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25Mar14


Russia calls US and EU short-sighted for their approach to ultra-nationalists in Ukraine


Russian Foreign Ministry's representative at the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday criticized the European Union and the United States for being short-sighted in their approach to the presence of ultra-nationalists in Ukraine's executive power bodies.

"This approach is hard to explain," Roman Kashayev, who is member of the Russian delegation at the session, said.

"We are concerned with an obvious deficit of attention shown by the United States and the European Union to the presence of ultra-nationalist forces in the executive power bodies in Ukraine," the Russian diplomat said.

"Their short-sightedness is hard to explain and is apparently linked to their ongoing enthrallment in geopolitical games," the Russian diplomat stressed.

Russia has been warning its partners in Europe and the United States of the dangers behind the spread of ultra-right ideology and political movements, including neo-Nazis.

Kashayev said that a rise of neo-Nazism in Europe "was growing into extreme right terror. Regrettably, the European community and Europe's political leaders seem to be unaware of how dangerous this phenomenon is."

"Ukraine is a clear example of what the appeasement to such ideas and actions carried out for the sake of freedom of speech can lead to," Kashayev went on to say, noting that ultra-nationalist radicals had risen to power in Kiev as a result of an unconstitutional state coup.

He meant Ukraine's "Svoboda" (Freedom) nationalist party, in the first place, which the European Parliament accused of racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia in 2012 and called on Europeans to stop cooperation with it.

"Representatives of these parties are holding a number of key posts in Kiev, including the posts of vice-premier, the defense minister and chief prosecutor," Kashayev said.

But the Right Sector neo-Nazi movement is even more dangerous. "Its leaders have penetrated into power and are influencing decision-making in Kiev by way of open violence and intimidation," the Russian diplomat stressed, adding it was them who called for exterminating ethnic Russians, Jews, Poles, Hungarians and representatives of other ethnic minorities.

"The international community should not allow Nazis convicted by the Nuremburg Tribunal to have revenge in modern Europe," the Russian diplomat said.

[Source: Itar Tass, Geneva, 25Mar14]

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