Front Page of Russia’s Report May 2015
Foreign Affairs ministry of the Russian Federation has on 4 May, to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over fascism, published a report titled “Neo-Nazism – a dangerous threat to human rights, democracy and the rule of law” in which it sharply criticises the strengthening of right-wing and nationalistic political movements in Europe and some NATO countries outside the EU and expresses objections towards the European authorities for not having the will-power to increase repressive methods towards such movements.
Well, such a document is not surprising. I mean, Russia was not likely to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over fascism by addressing circa 36 million of innocent victims of communist fascism under Stalin and after him.
The introduction states: “The present report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is primarily aimed at demonstrating current situation with the spread and potential consequences of the neo-Nazi threat in a number of countries. It is focused on the most outstanding and obvious tendencies in this sphere that pose extreme threat to the stability and security of the world order.
The report consists of three chapters. The first describes global neo-Nazi tendencies in a number of countries and demonstrates how they contradict international legal obligations in the sphere of combating Nazism, neo-Nazism, aggressive nationalism, discrimination, xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance. The second chapter of the report contains fundamental provisions of international legal instruments and mechanisms. The third chapter exemplifies manifestations of neo-Nazism and related concepts and ideologies of hatred and points out the progress of a number of countries in combating neo-Nazism that requires further development and consolidation.
The data of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, international NGOs including human rights organizations such as Simon Wiesenthal Center and the International Human Rights Movement ‘World without Nazism’, reports of the national human rights structures, ombudsmen as well as statistics and researches of state authorities, studies of the leading world experts related to Nazism and neo-Nazism and documents from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation were used as sources in the preparation of this report.
The report is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory in commemoration of millions of people who have liberated the world from Nazism.
No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
All the victims of communist crimes are forgotten in this and Russia should know that in today’s world one cannot condemn one totalitarian regime of the past without condemning the other, for both were evil and oppressive. My feeling is that this document has been put together in the resistance to the movement in Eastern Europe that is exposing communist crimes for what they were – utter horror and inhumanity. The other Holocaust! Furthermore, this report would also serve as some justification for Russian interference in Ukraine, even if its reasoning and interpretation of events in Ukraine are quite twisted and evil.
The document pays special attention to Eastern European countries where there is presence of resistance to the spread of Russian influence on the continent – Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries – but other countries are also analysed, such as Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine … Curiously, given that it talks about supposed denial of rights to ethnic minorities, the report circumvents Serbia and all the ultranationalists there whose actions and inactions have seriously denied the Croatian and other minorities in Serbia many human and citizenship rights.
The Russians, among other things, state that “aggressive nationalism, ethnic and religious intolerance” in Croatia was directed primarily against the largest ethnic minority, Serbs, whose numbers have decreased by two-thirds since 1991. Suffice to say, the document has gathered all sorts of bits and pieces, uncorroborated or unproven acts of vandalism as to who actually perpetrated the acts of vandalism, stories of alleged hate crimes etc. Referring to unspecified data of unspecified human rights activists (therefore, cannot be verified), the document also states that during the last 19 years, about 30,000 Serbs in Croatia, Orthodox Christians, “converted to another faith, that is, accepted Catholicism.”
The president of Croatian Parliament’s Committee on Human rights and minority rights, Furio Radin, said for the Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper that he “never heard about 30,000 Serbs converting to Roman Catholicism” and concluded these were “unfounded figures, for if they were legitimate figures we would have addressed the matter already,” Radin concluded.
Although he was among the signatories of the recent Declaration Against Intolerance and Ethnocentrism in Croatia, Radin assures that Croatia cannot be accused of Neo-Nazism.
We have in Croatia some cases of sporadic flirting with Ustasha-ism, stadium nationalism, but the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry assessment general assessment doe not stand, said Radin who is also a member of the Croatian Parliament representing the Italian minority in Croatia,
When it comes to the crux of the matter the Russian assessment of Neo-Nazism in Europe does not hold water at all. Not only does it use unverifiable and dubious data but also much of its data sources seem quite biased, and in the case of Croatia the report favours the views of former communists and Serbs in Croatia. One cannot with confidence say that this is an objective assessment that it pretends to be. But that’s Russia for you these days. Just pile it on irresponsibly and see what falls out…
Member of the Executive Board of the Croatian Helsinki Committee Ivo Banac said that “in Croatia, like elsewhere” there had been “incidents related to neo-fascism” – but asks “who are Russians to call others by names and what is their interest in doing that.”
Of course, as expected, the Russians think that there must be laws that prohibit historical revisionism! In other words: laws that prevent the whole truth of history from being recorded as part of that factual history!
With regards to Russian’s comments about the non-existence of laws that prohibit historical revisionism, Banac is adamant that such a law should not be passed in Croatia because it would limit freedom of speech. Regardless of the fact that someone might abuse facts, everyone has to have a right to freedom of speech, because it is the most effective fight for truth, a in no case should there only be some organisations, as ‘the Antifascist League’, favoured by the Russians, said Banac.
The Report says, “The rise of neo-Nazism and radical nationalism in Ukraine has recently, in particular after the unconstitutional coup d’état of February 2014, reached an unprecedented level. The whole range of manifestations and signs of neo Nazism has been registered in the country, including consistent, state-level rehabilitation and glorification of Nazi accomplices of the World War II, policy of falsification of its history, swift legitimization of radical nationalists and their entry to state power structures, purges and punitive military operations concerning the people labeled as conducting ‘anti-Ukrainian activities’ “… So, according to Russia, the West is supporting a Neo-Nazi state of Ukraine! Yeah, right!
While most will not take this report seriously it obviously stands as a part of a wider anti-European Union and anti-Ukraine propaganda campaign, mostly criticizing the Baltic States and Kiev. But it is insulting to Croatia, nevertheless. Croatia should now push harder towards lustration (getting rid from high public offices of all former communists in high positions under communist Yugoslavia) and towards getting real justice for the victims of communist crimes. And as for the EU and other countries Russia criticizes in this report for not doing much about stopping freedom of speech and expression one can suggest: bring on more sanctions against Russia than the current lot and give loud support to the condemnation of communist crimes! Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)