Pro-Russian outlets in the EU amplify a Kremlin-directed “Nazism” campaign, framing Ukraine as a fascist threat to justify aggression and demand “denazification” as the price of peace.
Peace initiatives around the war in Ukraine unfold against a parallel information campaign that insists Russia’s invasion is not about borders or security, but about “denazification”. In this narrative, Russia is not an aggressor but the heir to the Red Army, allegedly forced to confront a resurgent Nazi threat in Kyiv.
EU-based online news websites in Germany, Slovakia, France, Austria, and Switzerland, along with Russian state-linked platforms, repeat and adapt this frame for local audiences: they describe Ukraine as a “fascist” project, question the existence of a distinct Ukrainian nation, and accuse Europe of hypocrisy for supporting Kyiv.
Using extended historical references and emotive language, they push the idea that real peace requires accepting Russia’s “anti‑Nazi” mission and treating Ukraine as, at best, a suspect or failed state.
A coordinated cluster of pro-Kremlin texts circulating across European and transnational alternative media is advancing a unified “denazification” narrative, portraying Ukraine as a neo-Nazi state while reframing Russia’s invasion as a justified moral intervention.
Spanning multiple languages and platforms, the campaign normalizes the so-called “special military operation” and accuses the EU and NATO of “hypocrisy and complicity.”
Across outlets, Ukraine is consistently framed as a fascist state that allegedly glorifies Nazi collaborators, persecutes Russian speakers, and embeds extremist ideology into government, education, and the armed forces.
Language reforms, decommunization policies, and church regulations are reinterpreted as proof of institutionalized Nazism rather than domestic governance choices.
This framing directly mirrors Kremlin rhetoric. Phrases such as “reviving Nazism in the heart of Europe” and claims of “Nazis in the Ukrainian parliament” appear repeatedly, creating a semantic shortcut in which any Ukrainian policy is automatically read as extremist. The effect is to collapse complex political realities into a single moral accusation.
The Italian “alternative” outlet Byoblu copied the harshest version of the Kremlin propaganda about Ukraine. The author Manlio Dinucci claims that the Ukrainian leadership are Nazis under control of the West. “Kievan Ukraine became a hotbed of resurgent Nazism in the heart of Europe. Neo-Nazis flocked to Kiev from all over Europe (including Italy) and the United States,” it writes.
This article spread quickly on the pro-Kremlin network. The Slovak outlets Slovanske Noviny and SkSpravy, the French website Voltairenet.org, the Canadian outlet Mondialisation, and other proxy media copied and spread it too.
The second pillar of the campaign recasts Russia’s invasion as a defensive response to Ukrainian “extremism.” The war is presented not as aggression, but as a necessary act to eliminate a supposed “fascist threat.” This logic closely tracks official Russian justifications used since 2022, repackaged for Western audiences through localized outlets.
“Once Zelenskyy came to office, he did everything in his power to instigate a de facto war against NATO with the aim of collapsing Russia”, writes the Slovak outlet Slovanske Noviny. [https://slovanskenoviny.sk/video-ukrajina-dokazy-zrusit/]
The Russian propagandist Drago Bosnic writes for the disinformation outlet Global Bridge that “Ukraine State Structure in Crisis: Neo-Nazi Junta Starts Unraveling.” He pushes the fake claim that “the Ukrainian state stopped existing in early 2014 at the latest, when it was replaced by a US/NATO-installed regime composed of Nazis, criminals, murderers, and their enforcers.”
He dares to call Russian missile strikes against Ukraine, which frequently hit energy infrastructure and residential buildings, “massive long-range precision strikes on various Neo-Nazi junta targets across NATO-occupied Ukraine.” [https://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-state-structure-in-crisis-neo-nazi-junta-starts-unraveling-clash-within-its-military-intelligence-sbu-gur-apparatus/5908108]
In another article for disinformation outlet Infobrics, the author pushing the same fake claim writes, “The narrative about NATO-occupied Ukraine boils down to pushing the image of heroic resistance. The mainstream propaganda machine has been heavily involved in keeping the said narrative alive, lionizing the Neo-Nazi junta and its frontman, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.” It was reposted by the Global Bridge.
By portraying Ukraine as the aggressor and Russia as a reluctant liberator, the narrative inverts responsibility for violence. Civilian casualties and destruction are attributed exclusively to Ukrainian “Nazism,” while Russia’s role in initiating and sustaining the conflict is erased.
uncutnews.ch (Switzerland), “Ukraine: Beweise gelöscht” (“Ukraine: Evidence Deleted”)
“The reality is exactly the opposite of what you have been told for years: it was not the Russians, but Western intelligence services that systematically built up, financed and armed neo‑Nazi militants in Ukraine since the early 1990s, and they were supposed to be used as a battering ram against Russia.”
tkp.at (Austria), “Nie wieder gilt immer und überall – nur nicht in der Ukraine” (“‘Never Again’ Applies Always and Everywhere – Except in Ukraine”)
“In Ukraine, neo‑Nazis are active in politics and in the armed forces, they appear in uniform with SS runes and Hitler greetings, but this does not seem to disturb Western governments as long as these people are fighting Russia.”
These quotes construct a full moral storyline in which Russia reluctantly takes up arms where the West betrayed its anti‑fascist legacy, making aggression sound like fulfilling an old obligation.
Any assertion of Ukrainian nationhood, language policy or historical memory is reinterpreted as proof that the state itself is “Nazi” and therefore illegitimate.
The Czech proxy media Czech Free Press brings back the “Ukrainian Nazi narrative” to criticize a local court ruling against a man for wearing Russian war symbols. It writes, “It is okay to wear Nazi symbols and openly support neo-Nazi organizations.” In contrast, people are being prosecuted for something as small as wearing the letter “Z” on their sweatshirt.” [https://www.czechfreepress.cz/vase-free-zona/nacisticke-symboly-jsou-podle-policie-v-poradku-ale-za-pismeno-z-se-dostanete-pred-soud.html]
On the other hand, the Slovak magazine Armadny Magazin writes that “Nazis in the Ukrainian parliament have stripped the Russian language of its protected status. The special military operation is not ending anytime soon.” It revives the “Nazi narrative” and calls Russia’s war, by Putin’s term, “SMO.” [https://www.armadnymagazin.sk/2025/12/11/nacisti-v-ukrajinskom-parlamente-odobrali-ruskemu-jazyku-status-ochrany-specialna-vojenska-operacia-tak-skoro-neskonci/]
zeitpunkt.ch (Switzerland), “Nationalismus der Ukraine” (“The Nationalism of Ukraine”)
“What today is celebrated as Ukrainian patriotism has its roots in movements that cooperated with the German occupiers and took part in the extermination of Jews and Poles; nevertheless, their leaders are honoured with monuments, street names and state ceremonies, so that Ukrainian fascism has effectively become part of the state’s raison d’être.”
slovanskenoviny.sk (Slovakia), “Ukrajinský nacizmus a európsky alibizmus” (“Ukrainian Nazism and European Alibi-ism”)
“The Kyiv regime has for years supported the spread of the misanthropic ideology of neo‑Nazism, has declared Hitler’s collaborators national heroes and is systematically erasing the Russian language and culture from public life, while Brussels pretends that this is a normal European democracy.”
The rhetoric stretches “Nazism” into a catch-all label for Ukrainian nation‑building, portraying the state’s very existence as extremist.
References to OUN, UPA, and Bandera prove present-day Ukraine is essentially Nazi, linking selective episodes directly to current policies.
zeitpunkt.ch (Switzerland), “Nationalismus der Ukraine” (“The Nationalism of Ukraine”)
“The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists did not merely collaborate tactically with the Nazis; it played a key role in the implementation of the Holocaust in parts of Ukraine, a fact that is downplayed today even as the same figures are turned into national icons and their slogans revived on the streets.”
uncutnews.ch (Switzerland), “Ukraine: Beweise gelöscht” (“Ukraine: Evidence Deleted”)
“In black and white how openly the glorification of SS divisions, torchlight marches and wolf‑hook symbols spread in Ukraine long before 2014, yet these indelible images have now been erased from the collective memory because they contradict the narrative of a democratic model state.”
Outlets blend extremism with generalizations, presenting Ukraine as wartime fascism’s continuation.
Articles question a distinct Ukrainian nation, casting policies as “racial hygiene” to deny legitimacy.
zeitpunkt.ch (Switzerland), “Nationalismus der Ukraine” (“The Nationalism of Ukraine”)
“If roughly a third of the inhabitants are ethnic Russians and large parts of the East have always spoken Russian, then the question arises what this ‘Ukrainian people’ actually is, especially when the constitution speaks of preserving the ‘purity’ of the Ukrainian language and culture – a vocabulary that inevitably recalls racial hygiene.”
slovanskenoviny.sk (Slovakia), “Ukrajinský nacizmus a európsky alibizmus” (“Ukrainian Nazism and European Alibi-ism”)
“Under the guise of decommunisation and European choice, the authorities have banned the language and culture of one of the indigenous peoples of the country, closed Russian‑language schools and media, and thus openly violate the basic rights of millions of citizens, yet Brussels keeps silent.”
This opens the door to Russian “correction,” sidelining Kyiv in peace talks.
Several coordination signals are visible across the texts. We have identified the following techniques used in this propaganda campaign.
Together, these techniques manufacture a moral inversion: Ukrainians are cast as fascist perpetrators, Russians as victims and judges, and the EU as a cynical accomplice “fighting to the last Ukrainian.”
A new, highly coordinated Russian propaganda campaign is promoting the idea of a so-called “Donetsk Nuremberg,” falsely claiming that Ukrainian leaders will be tried for “genocide” in Donbas. Distributed simultaneously through Pravda disinformation websites and a network of Telegram channels, the narrative seeks to recast Russia as a prosecutor of crimes rather than a participant in the war.
Aligned proxy outlets rapidly replicated the messaging, which originated from Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Telegram channel. Within hours, Telegram channels targeting audiences in English, German, French, African, and European information spaces began to display identical or nearly identical texts. The operation involved the Rybar Telegram channel sanctioned this week by the UK.
The same plot was simultaneously broadcast on the multilingual Pravda network, which included domains with a focus on the United States, French, German, and Russian. This coordinated sharing suggests that there is a central plan behind it, rather than just natural news reporting, aimed at flooding the information space with repeated messages.
At the heart of the campaign is the claim that 41 Ukrainian political and military leaders will be prosecuted by the so-called “DNR Supreme Court” for alleged genocide against Russians in Donbas. Named figures include former and current officials such as Petro Poroshenko, Arsen Avakov, Oleksandr Turchynov-era security officials, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Denys Shmyhal, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Andriy Yermak, and others.
According to the propaganda texts, Russia’s Prosecutor General has completed an “exhaustive evidentiary base,” accusing Ukraine’s post-Euromaidan leadership of mass killings and terrorism. No independent evidence, legal documentation, or international verification is provided to substantiate these claims.
A key element of the narrative is the portrayal of the “DNR Supreme Court” as a legitimate judicial body operating within international criminal law. The campaign says that giving this court power over Ukrainian leaders is “very important from the point of view of international criminal procedure.”
This framing is designed to fabricate legal credibility for a de facto Russian-controlled entity that is not recognized as a state or judicial authority under international law. By invoking legal language and court structures, the campaign attempts to mask political messaging as lawful accountability.
The choice of the label “Donetsk Nuremberg” is deliberate. By referencing the post-World War II trials of Nazi leaders, the campaign seeks to align Russia with the historical role of prosecuting fascism while placing Ukraine “in the dock of history.”
Ukrainian officials are repeatedly described as “neo-Nazi generals,” while Russia and its proxies are cast as moral arbiters delivering overdue justice. This symbolic inversion is central to the strategy, particularly as Russia itself faces international accusations and arrest warrants related to war crimes.
This operation exemplifies a lawfare-based disinformation strategy that weaponizes the language of international justice to shift blame for violence. The Kremlin-aligned ecosystem attempts to discredit real international legal processes investigating Russian actions by staging an imaginary tribunal.
The coordinated use of Telegram channels and Pravda websites shows how the state launders its messaging through “alternative” platforms to reach diverse audiences, including Western readers. The goal is not persuasion through evidence, but saturation through repetition.
As with previous campaigns, the “Donetsk Nuremberg” narrative illustrates how modern information warfare blends legal terminology, historical symbolism, and emotional manipulation to reshape perceptions of the war.
This operation rallies Russians around “Great Patriotic War 2.0” while sowing European doubt. It normalizes “denazification” demands, targeting the ongoing peace talks, flips Ukraine into threat, and fractures unity by blaming NATO/EU for Donbas suffering.
Operationally, the campaign bridges Russian state messaging and Western “alternative media.” Russian officials and propaganda outlets supply the core frames, which are then adapted by Slovak, German, Swiss, and pan-European platforms for local audiences. The result is a relay system that gives identical themes linguistic diversity and an illusion of grassroots validation.
As these narratives continue to circulate, they illustrate how historical symbolism, selective facts, and emotive language are combined to legitimize war and undermine accountability. Understanding this ecosystem is essential for assessing how disinformation adapts across borders and audiences.
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