The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow has recognized the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), as well as ten representatives of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, including Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, as “collaborators” of Germany during World War II. The relevant lawsuit was filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.
This was reported by the press service of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.
They stated that “this decision is important for perpetuating the memory of the victims of genocide, debunking the unlawful actions of the regime in Kyiv, annulling decisions on the rehabilitation of war criminals, and preventing acts of extremism against” the Russian Federation.
In addition to Bandera and Shukhevych, Vasyl Bandera, Andriy Melnyk, Mykola Arsenych, Taras Borovets, Dmytro Kliachkivskyi, Mykola Kozak, Myron Matviyeyko, and Yaroslav Stetsko were recognized as “collaborators” of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Earlier, Russian authorities recognized the UPA and OUN as “extremist” organizations, and in 2024, the country’s Ministry of Justice included them in the so-called list of “Nazi” formations. The emblems and symbols of both organizations were also included in the list, including the golden trident and the red-and-black flag of the OUN.
What is known about the OUN and UPA
OUN is the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which fought for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. UPA, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was an armed partisan formation during World War II and the post-war period, which operated mainly in western Ukraine under the leadership of Stepan Bandera. UPA’s stated goal was the creation of an independent Ukraine, without control from Poland, the USSR, or Nazi Germany.
At the same time, some OUN figures collaborated with Germany at the beginning of World War II. However, claims about the involvement of the OUN or UPA in the murder of Jews at Babyn Yar or the residents of Khatyn are not consistent with historical reality, as are the tragic events in VolynThe Volyn tragedy refers to the ethnic cleansings of Ukrainians and Poles that occurred during the Nazi occupation in 1943-44. The UPA opposed the Home Army in the context of partisan warfare, which resulted in civilian casualties among both Poles and Ukrainians. The names of approximately 30,000 Poles and about 10,000 Ukrainians killed have been established..
Ukrainian historians acknowledge the fact of murders of Polish citizens but point out that in those years, during the Ukrainian-Polish conflict, there were also significant casualties among Ukrainians.
Currently, the Kremlin uses the events of those years to accuse Ukraine of “Nazism.” In addition, Russian courts have recently passed a number of decisions recognizing the actions of Nazi occupation forces on the territory of the USSR as “genocide of the Soviet people.” The Nuremberg trial in 1946, while recognizing many Nazi actions as criminal, did not mention the “genocide” of Soviet citizens.
Source: suspilne.media