Russia’s ex-president poisons the Ukrainian commander-in-chief Syrskyj. In doing so, he uses all the narratives of Kremlin propaganda.
Moscow – The deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, called Ukraine’s new army chief a traitor. “When you look at the biography of the new commander-in-chief of Ukraine Olexsandr Syrskyj, hatred, contempt and disgust arise,” the Putin confidant wrote on Telegram, the news agency reported Reuters. Syrskyj was appointed commander-in-chief on Thursday (February 9). He was born in 1965 in the Vladimir region of Russia. He studied at the Moscow Military School and served in the artillery of the Soviet Army for five years. He has lived in Ukraine, which was also part of the Soviet Union until 1991, since the 1980s.
Before he replaced his predecessor Valeriy Zalushnyj, the 58-year-old had commanded the Ukrainian army since 2019. From 2014 he was a commander in the Ukrainian defense against Russian-backed separatists in Donbass in eastern Ukraine. Syrskyj is ethnic Russian. According to the Russian state news agency Tass Medvedev called Syrsky a “Bandera traitor” who had “broken his oath.” “Bandera Traitor” alludes to a central Russian propaganda narrative in the Ukraine War: the claim that Ukraine was allegedly ruled by fascists.
Expert: Russia exaggerates Bandera’s role to create “ideological justification” for war in Ukraine
The historical figure Stepan Bandera, leader of the right-wing extremist wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists during World War II, actually collaborated with the Nazis at times. His organization committed massacres in Poland with the goal of creating an ethnically cleansed Ukrainian nation-state. However, political scientist Maryna Shetsova wrote in Central European Journal of International and Security Studiesthat Russian propaganda systematically exploits Bandera’s role in Ukrainian remembrance politics in an exaggerated manner in order to create an “ideological justification for the invasion”.
Medvedev breathes the Putin spirit of Great Russian nationalism
Medvedev also projected the Great Russian nationalism of Russian President Vladimir Putin onto Syrsky. Medvedev wrote aloud Tass: He feels “hatred” for everyone “who was involved in the collapse of the Soviet Union (and essentially the Russian Empire).” In 2021, Putin expressed his twisted view in an essay historical facts. In an imperialist manner, he denied Ukraine statehood and postulated a historical unity of both states in a “united Russian people”. A few months later, his words were followed by actions. Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine and massacred civilians in the city of Bucha. (kb with rtrs)