By EDUARDO VASCO
The double standard behind Josep Borrell's apparent humanism
In early November, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, traveled to Kiev to signal that the Europeans will continue their strong support for the Ukrainian armed forces in the war against Russia.
The visit took place shortly after Donald Trump's victory in the US – who has indicated numerous times that he intends to disengage his country from the conflict. “We have supported Ukraine from the beginning and today I convey the same message: we will support it in every way we can,” the diplomat said on November 9, 2024.
At the time of Josep Borrell's stay in Kiev, the Kiel Institute of World Economy in Germany estimated that the European Union had already allocated $125 billion to President Volodymyr Zelensky's government since the start of the Russian intervention in February 2022. This is more than the amount sent by the US ($90 billion).
While he is a vocal defender of Ukraine, Josep Borrell has been a strong critic of Israel’s extermination of Palestinians in Gaza. He has called the situation in the Palestinian enclave, where more than 44.000 people have been killed by Israel, a “human tragedy” and “the greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II.”
It also indicated that Israel could be committing war crimes and proposed, back in November, the suspension of talks between the European Union and Israel due to violations of human rights and international law in Gaza.
Despite adopting a critical stance on Tel Aviv's actions, it is absurd to consider the positions of the head of European diplomacy as anti-Semitic – something that Benjamin Netanyahu's office has done. In 2022, his famous statement that the extermination of 5 million Jews by the German Nazis in World War II was “the greatest tragedy in the history of humanity”.
One of the photo taken by reporter Gleb Garanich, from the Reuters news agency, however, helps to shed light on the double standard behind Josep Borrell's apparent humanitarianism. While visiting an exhibition of military equipment used by Ukrainians in the conflict, he passed in front of a tank covered in graffiti and drawings made by the military. They indicate that the tank belonged to the infamous Azov Battalion, as there was a drawing of its shield, with a Z cut out, next to a swastika.
The cut Z, inside the shield of Azov, is the wolfsangel, one of the many emblems used by the German Nazis. And the swastika – well, the swastika…
The Azov Battalion is one of the most notorious Ukrainian participants in the war. In fact, it was instrumental in starting the war. It was founded in 2014 by neo-Nazi elements who formed the riot squad for the Euromaidan, the color revolution that overthrew the Ukrainian government and replaced it with a junta influenced by far-right groups that, like Azov, have since become prominent in Ukrainian politics. Azov was at the forefront of the new regime’s push to suppress the uprisings in Donbass against the coup, which led to the conflict we see today.
“LGBT groups and foreign embassies say that not many Nazis participated in Maidan, that only about 10% were ideological [militants],” Evgeni Karas, leader of C2022, a neo-Nazi militia, said in early 14. “If it weren’t for these 8%, [Euromaidan’s] effectiveness would have dropped by 90%,” he continued, adding that without this, Euromaidan would have been nothing more than a “gay parade” – such recognition is something only the most blatant extremists have the courage to make.
The movement that led to the overthrow of the then leader, Viktor Yanukovich, and the rise of far-right organizations, originated from the European Union's dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian president's stance, who preferred to maintain Ukraine's neutral status by not signing a free trade agreement with the bloc.
One of Josep Borrell’s predecessors as head of EU diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, soon traveled to Ukraine with Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state at the US Department of State, where they met with representatives of neo-Nazi groups. The supposedly democratic façade of the protests, the NGOs, had been heavily funded by the EU and the US for many years before Euromaidan.
Members of Pravy Sektor and Svoboda – other neo-Nazi groups – triumphantly took up positions in the judiciary, the Ministry of Defense and national security agencies. Six of the new governors imposed by the new regime were members of Svoboda, which until 2004 was called the National Socialist Party of Ukraine. In 14, C2018, the former youth wing of Svoboda, signed an agreement with the Kyiv city government to patrol the city’s streets, meaning it was incorporated into the official forces.
Under Volodymyr Zelensky, it was the Azov's turn to be incorporated into the National Guard as a regiment. Its militia, which guarded the streets, came under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior and was sent to operate throughout the country in conjunction with the national police. In late 2021, Dmytro Yarosh, former leader of Pravy Sektor between 2013 and 2015, became an advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
In 2020, the Ukrainian parliament established the birthdays of seven notorious collaborators of the German occupation of Ukraine during World War II as official commemorative dates. Meanwhile, Azov members have been helping Volodymyr Zelensky to persecute opponents. In 2019, they raided Viktor Medvedchuk’s home, and a year later, the regime’s main opponent was arrested for “treason,” according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
Neo-Nazis have continued to receive awards and high-ranking government positions. In December 2021, the president awarded a leader of the Right Sector a “Hero of Ukraine”. This indicates the prestige of these sectors within the regime, but also a reward for their decisive actions on the battlefield.
Neo-Nazi groups have been on the front lines of the war since its beginning. Residents of Donbass still tell gruesome stories of the horrors committed by Ukrainian infantry during the worst period of the war, between 2014 and 2015. In Lugansk, where I was in the first half of 2022, the most barbaric group was the Aidar Battalion. Another organization of neo-Nazi fighters, Aidar – like Azov – received funding from the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, Zelensky’s main sponsor.
Residents of Luhansk villages will never forget, for example, the shooting of 18 people near the Novosvetlovska church, or the shelling of the church itself, where dozens of people were taking shelter. Soon after the Russian intervention, Zelensky appointed a former commander of the Aidar Battalion as the new general administrator of the region from Odessa.
Just like the front NGOs that paved the way for neo-Nazism to take power in Ukraine, these armed parties and militias were also – and continue to be – funded by the US and the European Union. In 2016, some of the weapons sent by the Pentagon were sent to Azov. In late 2017, US military officers provided on-the-ground advice to the group. Azov also received British instructors and grenade launchers from NATO countries shortly after the Russian intervention, as did Pravy Sektor.
A report by the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University published in September 2021 indicated that the “Centuria” group, also of neo-Nazi orientation and formed by officers of the Ukrainian army, participated in joint military exercises between France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
Simultaneously with the takeover of state institutions by the fascist far right, Ukraine has been falling apart economically. This is not only due to the war, but also to the high price paid by Kiev for its informal integration into the European Union: the transfer of public assets into private hands, whether by domestic oligarchs or foreign businessmen and banks. These are the “reforms” that a subservient government makes to adapt to the will of its guardians.
“Ukraine continues to advance with fundamental reforms to become a member of the EU, while fighting a war of aggression,” Borrell said in October, presenting the annual report on EU enlargement. He added that the bloc “will continue to support Ukraine on both fronts.”
The European Union has already supplied more than 980 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine’s war with Russia, and Borrell has promised to reach one million by the end of the year. Around 15 civilians have been killed in Donbass since 2014 thanks to such incentives.
*Edward Basque is a journalist. Author, among other books, of The Forgotten People: A History of Genocide and Resistance in Donbass. [https://amzn.to/3AjFjdK]
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