Essay: Russia's neo-Nazi problem belies one of Putin's rationales for the war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin

Key initial points:

1. One of the rationales that Vladimir Putin gave for launching his special military operation in Ukraine in February of 2022 was the denazification of Ukraine.

2. Since 1999, the Russian President Vladmir Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister. Specifically, as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012, and as president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012.

3. The Russian mercenary group the Wagner Group is closely associated with Vladmir Putin's regime. Dmitry Utkin co-founded the Wagner Group and he was the military head of the group.^[1]

Richard Wagner was a German opera composer with rabidly anti-semitic views. On April 5, 2022, NBC News reported: "The Wagner Group is named after the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner, whose music Adolf Hitler adored. The group’s leader, Dmitry Utkin, reportedly wears Nazi tattoos, including a swastika, a Nazi eagle and SS lightning bolts. Wagner mercenaries are reported to have left behind neo-Nazi propaganda in the war zones where they’ve fought, including graffiti with hate symbols." ^[2]

A picture of Nazi tatoos can be clearly seen on Dmitry Utkin in the news article Russia sends its pet neo-Nazis to kill Zelensky – while claiming to want to “denazify” Ukraine published by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

But I realize that the Wagner Group is a mercenary group where money talks and it is not part of the Russian military. As a result, it is a less ideological military organization.

Along with members of the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group that was designated a "global terrorist" organization by the United States two years ago, Rusich is one of several right-wing groups that are actively fighting in Ukraine, in conjunction with Russia’s regular armed forces or allied separatist units.

On May 27, 2022 Radio Free Europe reported:

“

According to a confidential report by Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, which was obtained by Der Spiegel and excerpted on May 22, numerous Russian right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis are fighting in Ukraine.

German analysts wrote that the fact that Russian military and political leaders have welcomed neo-Nazi groups undermines the claim by Putin and his government that one of the principal motives behind the invasion is the desire to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, Spiegel said."</ref>

”

In 2009, ABC News reported concerning Russia: "In a country that lost more people defeating the Nazis than any other country, there are now an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 neo-Nazis, half of the world's total. They even have supporters in parliament."[1] And today, I found this article: Neo-Nazism in Russia.

However, it is also true that under a significant amount of Russian police pressure, the amount of neo-Nazi acts began to decline from 2009 in Russia (Source: Kolsto, Pal (24 March 2016). New Russian Nationalism: Imperialism, Ethnicity and Authoritarianism 2000—2015. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474410434.).

To be fair and realistic, Russia is a big country whose population is over 140 million people and post-breakup of the Soviet Union Russia has had a lot of problems to solve. So it is unrealistic to expect that Putin can root out all the neo-Nazis in Russia. A lot of countries have a small group of neo-Nazis.

Politics makes strange bedfellows and the human heart is evil. That is the only way to explain this bizarre state of affairs. This is one of the reasons why I often ignore what politicians say and instead look at what they do. But it is bizarre that the Nazis, which promoted hyper-German nationalism/evolutionary racism and is now hated by most Germans, survives to this day. The only way that I can explain it is that anti-semitism is demonic and it is still strong in the world (The devil hates the Israelites, God's chosen people, and the Nazis were extremely anti-semitic). Russia, like many countries throughout the world, has a history of anti-semitism which still exists to some extent today (See: Restrictions on religious activity and/or religious persecution in Czarist, Soviet, and contemporary Russia and Anti-semitism in Russia).

However, the amount of irrationality in politics is one of the reasons why my interest in politics has lessened and why I am planning on expanding the non-political aspects of my life. With that being said, the corrupt/authoritarian country of Ukraine does have a neo-Nazi problem. And I hope the USA cuts off its aid to Ukraine as soon as possible. And the pro-Ukraine Joe Biden faces lower and lower odds of being reelected as time goes on, but maybe he will surprise me.