Ukraine recognises Russian regime as Nazi and bans symbols used by Russian Armed Forces

Kateryną Tyshchenko – Thursday, 14 April 2022, 20:34

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine [Ukrainian parliament] has banned the symbols used by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the war against Ukraine.

Source: Verkhovna Rada; Sluha Narodu [Servant of the People], the ruling party

Details: Bill № 7214, On the Prohibition of Propaganda of the Russian Neo-Nazi Totalitarian Regime, of the Act of Aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation as a Terrorist State, and of the Symbols Used by the Armed Forces and Other Military Units of the Russian Federation in the War against Ukraine, was passed on the second reading.

Ukraine thereby recognises Russia as a terrorist state. Ukraine also recognises that one of the goals of the Russian political regime is the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Others are physical destruction, the mass murder of Ukrainian citizens, international crimes against civilians, use of prohibited methods of warfare, destruction of civilian objects and critical infrastructure, and the artificial creation of a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine or some of its regions.

The political regime of the Russian Federation is recognised as Nazi in its essence and practice and as ideologically continuous with the National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regime that existed in Hitler’s Germany.

The bill prohibits the propaganda of the Russian Nazi totalitarian regime and of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation as a terrorist state against Ukraine. The use of symbols associated with the Russian military invasion of Ukraine is recognized as a distinct kind of such propaganda.

The symbols of the military invasion of the Russian Nazi totalitarian regime in Ukraine include:

the use of the Latin letters Z and V on their own (without a legitimate context or in the context of justifying armed aggression against Ukraine or any other military action) or by substituting these letters for the Cyrillic letters З, С, В, Ф, or other letters in individual words with a visual emphasis on these letters; 

the use of symbols of the Russian Armed Forces, its land forces, air and space forces, navy, strategic missile forces, airborne troops, special operations forces, other armed groups and (or) government of the terrorist state (aggressor state).

"Violation of these requirements is subject to civil, administrative, and criminal liability in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. Individuals and legal entities, officials of legal entities, public authorities and local governments will all be held responsible," said Mykyta Poturaiev, co-author of the bill and chairman of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, according to the Sluha Narodu website.

However, if such symbols are used in works and materials created to condemn the Russian Nazi totalitarian regime and the military invasion of Ukraine, and if this goal is expressed in an obvious form, this will not be considered a violation.