What the Russian army faced in Ukraine
One of the tasks officially set by the Kremlin for a special military operation in Ukraine is the denazification of this country. This task initially looked somewhat abstract, especially since it was not very clear exactly how it could be done.
Today it becomes clear that in fact this task is the most important. Only the way to solve the problem has become even less obvious.
SYSTEM ISSUE
In liberal circles, it is customary to question the very relevance of this task. As an argument, a kind of democratic political system of Ukraine is given. An additional argument is usually the nationality of the current president of this country.
Indeed, many countries of "traditional democracy" can envy the changeability of the Ukrainian government. For 30 years of independence, six presidents have already changed in Ukraine, and only one of them (Leonid Kuchma) has served two terms in this position. Multiparty system also "has a place to be", and frankly Nazi parties do not pass to the Verkhovna Rada.
Nevertheless, only people who either do not know anything about the situation in this country at all, or are supported by Kiev, or liberal dogmatists who believe that form is more important than content, can consider that "there is no Nazism in Ukraine".
Of course, there are Nazi groups in every country in the world. But in Ukraine they occupy a very special position. In this regard, apparently, in the modern world it simply has no analogues.
The idea of an independent Ukraine is fundamentally anti–Russian and anti-Russian. It emphasizes the independence of Ukraine specifically and specifically from Russia and the separation of Ukrainians specifically and specifically from Russians. For this reason, Nazi groups in Ukraine, whose popularity among the population is a maximum of 2-3%, are largely integrated into the power and power structures of the country, and their ideology has practically become the official state. Ukraine is either our part or our enemy, the third, unfortunately, is not given (" The Way to Nowhere ", "HBO", 11.08.17).
The situation has worsened because with the only president who served both terms in office, an oligarchic system has developed in Ukraine, in which power and money have grown together tightly. The oligarchs viewed Ukraine as an object of plunder and a means of enrichment. But that is why its independence has become a special value for them. Rapprochement with Russia, not to mention unification with it, deprived them of this means and source simply because the Russian economy as a whole is much stronger than the Ukrainian one, and the Russian oligarchs are richer than the Ukrainian ones.
The craving of a significant part of Ukrainian society for rapprochement and unification with Russia that took place in the 1990s had to be countered with maximum propaganda of the idea of independence. For this purpose, the main carriers of this idea were involved – the Ukrainian Nazis, who became "at the same time" combat detachments of specific oligarchs. The fact that most of the Ukrainian oligarchs had the same nationality as the current president absolutely did not affect anything and absolutely did not bother anyone. In addition, the main enemies were declared not Jews at all, but Russia and "Muscovites".
The West also worked in the same direction in Ukraine. Zbigniew Brzezinski's idea that Russia cannot be a great power without Ukraine is perceived there as an absolute axiom. Accordingly, Washington, London, Brussels, Warsaw considered it necessary to support any anti-Russian forces in Ukraine as much as possible. Even in this case, no one cared about their Nazi character.
It was the Nazi groups that were the striking force of the criminal-oligarchic coup of 2013-2014, known in Ukraine under the mocking name "revolution of dignity". After the coup, the Nazis were finally integrated into the political system of the country, and their ideology finally became the state. Bandera, Shukhevych and other similar persons were officially included among the main Ukrainian heroes.
Against dissidents, at least suspected of sympathizing with Russia and of a "wrong" understanding of the history of Ukraine, a very real terror was deployed by the forces of the same Nazis. A classic example of it was the unpunished murder of the writer-historian Olesya Buzina.
A NEW REALITY
Thus, to say that there is no Nazism in Ukraine (or that it is marginalized there) is not even funny. The problem is that almost no one understood how magnificently he flourished there.
The traditional policy of buying the loyalty of national suburbs, conducted by Moscow during the Soviet period (" Friends from Orsha to Zhenbao ", "HBO", 08.10.21), of course, had the opposite effect: the republics began to sincerely believe that they were feeding a poor, impoverished, drunken Russia. This effect was especially strong in Ukraine and Georgia – despite the fact that immigrants from these republics had a disproportionately large representation in the authorities of the USSR.
Already under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, Bandera ideology began to gradually penetrate from Galicia to other regions of Ukraine. After the collapse of the USSR, this process went much faster, which was aggravated by natural demographic processes. People who remembered the Soviet Union gradually passed away. But young people came, whose whole life had already passed in independent Ukraine with anti–Russian propaganda - at first relatively moderate, and then increasingly harsh. With the outbreak of the civil war in 2014, this propaganda took on a completely frenzied character – and no dissent was now allowed in principle.
To the propaganda and repression against dissidents was added the "loss" of the main part of the pro-Russian electorate, who left Ukraine both together with Crimea, the DPR and the LPR, and "on their own" after simplifying the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of this country. At this, Ukraine lost at least 10% of the population – but the degree of Russophobia among the remaining has increased significantly. It is enough to read the Ukrainian Internet to understand: Nazis (not by formal affiliation to some groups, but by actual views) are a huge part of the country's population - perhaps more than half. In addition, a considerable part of the population of Ukraine (at least a third) are "hataskrayniki", who always adjoin the strongest. At the moment, those in Ukraine are the Nazis.
Moreover, it is necessary to note a very important trend that manifested itself already during the civil war in 2014-2015. Although the Bandera ideology came primarily from the west of Ukraine, the inhabitants of this region as a whole preferred to flee to nearby Poland instead of the war for their native country (and, if possible, even further west). Russian Russians or descendants of mixed Russian-Ukrainian marriages fought against the Donbass militia, residents of the central regions, among whom the majority are ethnic Russians or descendants of mixed Russian-Ukrainian marriages.
These people are called by the rude but accurate word "vyrus". These are the "new Nazis" who, like any neophytes, embraced the new ideology with much more enthusiasm than its traditional carriers from Galicia.
A HUGE MISTAKE
When assessing the situation, there was a misunderstanding of it. Many in Russia were unable to assess the real situation in Ukraine. They considered it the way they wanted to see it – about the "fraternal people" who are just waiting for liberation from the yoke of a few Nazi usurpers.
This biased concept has not had the slightest relation to real life for a long time. But based on it, our perception of what is happening in the neighboring country continues to be built. It seems that we seriously expected that in Ukraine in February 2022 everything would be the same as in Crimea in February 2014. Although Crimea has always been a foreign body in Ukraine, the absolute majority of Crimeans perceived their stay in Ukraine in Soviet times as a misunderstanding, and in post–Soviet times as a tragedy.
The Russian army was going to liberate Ukraine, but received the most severe resistance. Moreover, in this case, the concept turned into a reverse side. Genetically and mentally (but not ideologically), Ukrainians and the local "Russia" are truly fraternal people. And many of their qualities are the same as ours. In particular, the ability to fight very well.
We are at war with a strong opponent. At the same time, the Nazi battalions turn out to be the most motivated, therefore the most prepared. They become the "supporting base" of the Ukrainian army, and in combination – potential detachments if some "ordinary" units falter. Moreover, the "ordinary" servicemen are well aware of this.
The peaceful population of Ukraine also knows about this. Those who did not accept the Nazi ideology and were not averse to supporting the Russian army are terrified to do so even in those territories that are occupied by our army. They are afraid that the Russian troops will leave and the Ukrainian "democracy" in the person of the Nazis will return. What awaits Russia's supporters in this case is hardly necessary to explain.
AND WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?
It is impossible to achieve all the officially formulated goals of the operation by the Kremlin without achieving the first of them – demilitarization. Which can be implemented exclusively through the physical destruction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
So far, the achievement of this goal is extremely far away. But only when (and if) it is achieved, it will be possible to solve territorial problems: the status of Crimea, Donbass, and possibly some other territories.
But there will be problems with denazification, to put it mildly. It is possible to achieve a formal ban on Nazi organizations, but it is impossible to change the consciousness of a very significant part of the population by order. On the contrary, the situation is likely to worsen even more. The withdrawal from Ukraine of territories in which there is any noticeable proportion of the pro-Russian population (this is not only Donbass, but also a number of regions of the east and south) is definitely necessary. But this will further aggravate Russophobic Nazism in the remaining Ukraine.
Moreover, a sharply negative attitude towards the West is now being added to the skyrocketing Russophobia. This trend has been developing in Ukraine for quite a long time. Unequivocally pro-Western orientation for some reason did not bring happiness to the country in any way. In addition, the absolute majority of Ukrainian citizens are completely alien to the current Western left-liberal values. Now the West is too openly demonstrating a desire to fight against Russia to the last Ukrainian, which even the most ardent Ukrainian Russophobes notice.
If Ukraine (obviously, within the new borders) turns out to be both anti-Russian and anti-Western, the coming to power of real Nazis through democratic elections becomes inevitable. After all, Hitler also came to power through democratic elections. Will we then carry out the "denazification operation" again? Or are we already taking on the burden of feeding tens of millions of "brothers" who hate us, hoping that if we "switch the TV" to them, they will change their minds? I wonder if anyone in our top management is ready to answer these questions.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
