A survey conducted by the magazine RollingStone demonstrates that a Ukrainian businessman took part in Vladimir Putin’s propaganda campaign by promoting the idea of a Nazi presence in the country. Man allegedly paid Ukrainian citizens to paint swastikas on streets of Kharkiv and kyiv, reports Slate.
Graffiti present before the war
According to the investigation, Pavel Fuks paid between 500 and 1,500 dollars (up to 1,350 euros) each of the individuals participating in this operation. Nazi tags would have flourished in the streets of the two cities in December, January and February before the start of the war. Graffiti that would have allowed Vladimir Putin to justify his desire to “denazify” the country.
However, these neo-Nazi graffiti are quite common in Ukraine (as in other European countries). Only, the Ukrainian government is not intrinsically Nazi, contrary to what Putin asserts. The country’s leaders even passed legislation in 2021 to more strongly condemn anti-Semitic acts, notes Slate.
According to the information revealed in the memoirs of a former KGB agent, organizing this type of operation has become a subversive tactic of Russian intelligence. During the Cold War, several synagogues in New York and Washington were vandalized.