The leadership of Ukraine surrounds itself with Nazis - an unexpected admission by Western media

Kiev, September 19 (PolitNavigator, Yuriy Kovalchuk) – Human rights organizations and experts involved in monitoring far-right organizations and hate crimes sent an open letter to the president, in which they called for the exclusion from the election list of the Popular Front party of persons who openly promote nationalist, anti-Semitic , racist and neo-Nazi views. It is noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned about the possible popularization of these movements back in February, reports the American publication The Daily Beast.

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In photographs of a recent party congress, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and ex-acting president Alexander Turchynov stand shoulder to shoulder with Andrei Beletsky, leader of the far-right National Socialist Assembly.

These groups were known for all manner of hate crimes long before pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine were considered little more than hooligans. However, after the escalation of the conflict, Beletsky and people like him turned from marginalized people into national heroes. Beletsky has still not publicly renounced his misanthropic, anti-liberal, anti-European and openly racist ideology. The symbol of the Azov battalion he leads is a modified swastika, writes The Daily Beast.

Last year, members of the Patriot of Ukraine organization and Andriy Beletsky were accused of trying to kill journalist Sergei Kolesnik. Beletsky was detained, but was never convicted. Other members of the organization received prison sentences in 2011 for preparing a terrorist act, the publication reports.

The newspaper notes that the moderate opposition criticizes Poroshenko not only for attracting Nazis to his party, but also for refusing to acknowledge the fact that there is a war in Ukraine. In a recent commentary to The Daily Beast, Tymoshenko ally Grigory Nemyrya said that Poroshenko chose to delegate responsibility for military operations to volunteer battalions rather than regular military personnel.

“The President has not yet been appointed chief of staff of the armed forces. He did not admit that we are in a state of war, preferring to throw volunteer battalions into the most dangerous combat zones, into which the command is afraid to send regular troops,” says Nemyrya.

For their services, these supposedly heroic battalion commanders demanded a seat in parliament. Beletsky recently stated that dozens of volunteers have been killed in recent battles alone, so those who made such sacrifices deserve to be represented in power. Members of his battalion, many of whom wear swastika tattoos, often make anti-Semitic statements, but this does not prevent some Ukrainians from viewing Beletsky and his men positively, The Daily Beast writes.

The “Military Council” of the party includes the commander of the “Dnepr-1” battalion, Yuri Bereza. Co-founder of the Patriots of Ukraine organization Andriy Parubiy is also in close cooperation with Poroshenko. He and several other activists were tried for beating demonstrators in Lviv on November 7, 1997. During the February Maidan uprising, he worked closely with far-right groups as commander of the Maidan self-defense.

At the same time, flirting with such people does not guarantee Poroshenko insurance against attacks from other ultra-nationalists. The leader of the extremist organization “Right Sector” Dmitry Yarosh on social networks demanded that Poroshenko change the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, threatening to recall fighters from the front, the newspaper recalls.

In an open letter from experts to Poroshenko, they urge him to prevent Beletsky from entering politics, which, in their opinion, will discredit Ukraine.

“By making people like Beletsky his partners, Poroshenko gives Putin every reason to claim that the Nazis are in Kyiv,” said Grigory Nemyrya.

But in today's Ukraine, exhausted by war and dreaming of a strong hand that can save the country from collapse, battalion commander Beletsky in camouflage looks more attractive than Yulia Tymoshenko with her famous braid, writes The Daily Beast.