Cathy Young on Russia, Where the Real Facists Are

The claim that last month’s democratic revolution
in Ukraine was actually driven by ultra-right extremists, fascists,
or even “neo-Nazis” has been a staple of Kremlin propaganda. It is
also echoed by Western pundits who think that Vladimir Putin is
getting a bum rap and the United States is backing the bad guys in
this conflict. It is true that far-right nationalists are a
troubling, though by no means dominant, presence on Ukraine’s
political scene and a potential problem for the new leadership’s
quest for European integration. But the cries of “fascism” from
Moscow and its apologists are breathtakingly hypocritical, writes
Cathy Young, considering the Putin regime’s entanglement with
far-right, ultranationalist and, yes, fascist elements at home and
abroad.

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