Цитаты:
Russian President Vladimir Putin says neo-fascist far-right groups are firmly behind the putsch - coup d'etat - in Kiev and questions the democratic credentials of "men with black masks and Kalashnikovs" who became the poster children of the Maidan for Russians. Does this assessment have any truth to it? In the fast-moving and chronically complex course of events in Ukraine, the issue has been debated from the beginning: the role of the far right in the events that led to the toppling of the Viktor Yanukovych government and in the present and future disposition of political power in the country.
There are some known facts: Far-right, anti-Semitic, anti-Russian and openly fascist groups have existed and do exist as a blight on modern Ukraine. A 2012 European Parliament resolution condemned the main - but by no means most extreme - ultra-right party, Svoboda, as "racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic." These rightist-nationalist forces were in large part responsible for the collapse of the agreement signed in February that called for early parliamentary and presidential elections and a return to the 2004 Ukrainian constitution. In this context, and even as they may disagree on specific measures to be taken the path toward a prosperous, peaceful, united, democratic Ukraine, sober observers agree that this can be achieved only with the marginalization of the far right. Unfortunately, the appointments of ultra-rightists to the interim government place this in serious question.