Ukrainian nationalists living in Spain precisely reproduce and clearly demonstrate the order existing in Ukraine occupied by Bandera Nazis
On the eve of the celebration of the 77th anniversary of Victory Day, despite the difficult international situation, festive events were held in several European cities. Columns of Immortal Regiment marched in Paris, Bratislava, Berlin, Belgrade, and in Spain the action took place in Madrid, Vigo and Almeria.
The action in Bratislava was held under the slogan “Together with Russian brothers,” and according to Slovak organizers, it gathered hundreds of Slovaks and Russians. In Paris, the Immortal Regiment procession marched from the main entrance of Père Lachaise cemetery to the monument to the Russian participants of the Resistance movement.
Through the streets of Madrid, the Immortal Regiment procession marched for the seventh time. The event turned out to be festive and solemn, despite the huge number of threats received by the organizers and participants from the Ukrainian diaspora.
In the seven years of the march in Madrid we can already say that the tradition of celebrating Victory Day has been created, it has its own character and its own spirit. A common egregore united Russians and Spaniards, Georgians and Belarusians, Ukrainians and Kazakhs living in Spain. Representatives of all these nations gather at the Immortal Regiment event in Madrid to celebrate together our common victory over fascism, and to remember the heroes who fought shoulder to shoulder in the war against German Nazism.
Spaniards come every year with portraits of their heroes and have already made this tradition their own. Several Spanish internationalist anti-fascist groups have taken on an enormous organizational role. This year, without their help, the march would not have been possible because of all the provocations that were prepared against the Immortal Regiment procession in social networks.
After the procession, one of them sent us his Victory Day greeting:
“Spanish anti-fascists greeting for Victory Day.
On May 9, 1945, the Soviet Army accomplished the greatest feat of humanity in the twentieth century: the final defeat of German Nazism. There were many peoples who suffered and fought against fascism: French, Italian, Belgian, Yugoslavian, Greek, Albanian…
In Spain we know well the cruel face of fascism. Our country experienced a fascist dictatorship that lasted until 1975. A military coup took place in the Spanish Republic, supported by the regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. Despite the fierce resistance of the Spanish Republicans, supported by the Soviet Union and the heroic International Brigades, the fascist beast managed to win this battle and drown the Spanish people in blood for 40 years.
But the struggle of the Spanish anti-fascists did not end there. The Spanish Republicans, forced to flee the country after the defeat, contributed to the defeat of Fascism in Europe by joining the French Resistance, and it was the Spanish men of Leclerc’s La Nueve (the 9th Company)* who had the honor of liberating Paris from the Nazis. Even today, the flag of the Spanish Republicans is recognized with honor on the Champs-Élysées.
But the nation that stands out most for its contribution to the defeat of fascism is the Soviet people. They suffered the most from Nazism: for 4 years of the Great Patriotic War, 26 million Soviet citizens died under the German war machine.
But despite all this suffering, on May 9 in Berlin the Nazi regime came to an end. The imperishable feat of the Soviet people represents a gift to all Humanity.
This feat was the result of the efforts not only of the Russian people, but also of all the peoples who were part of the Soviet Union. Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Armenians, Georgians … They all contributed their strength and lives to the defeat of German Nazism.
We Spanish anti-fascists watch with dismay as 80 years later, fascism has been revived in one of the countries that contributed to its defeat in the last century: the beautiful Ukraine. Nazism, though defeated, has not been completely eradicated, and today the heirs of Stepan Bandera are on the loose in Ukraine.
We, Spanish anti-fascists, welcome the efforts of our Russian comrades to stop the massacres that the people of Donbass have endured for the last 8 years. We wish a speedy peace between the fraternal Russian and Ukrainian peoples, we wish them to end Bandera Nazism in Ukraine together.
Today, just like yesterday,
¡¡No pasarán!”
Many Spaniards speak of the spirit of defeat that has taken root since the defeat of the Civil War and the slow, brutal death of Franco -Regime. So too, we hope that they can lean on the Victory of 1945 to keep fighting this eternal battle.
Under the scathing hiss of the official media, which called this action Putin’s propaganda, allegedly directed from the Russian embassy, and despite the official position of the Spanish government, which is tightly integrated into NATO, many local Spaniards made this celebration possible.
This includes government representatives in Madrid, who this year more quickly than ever gave permission for the march and, despite insistent repeated demands from Ukrainian nationalists, did not revoke permission.
The Spanish national police ensured the safety of the rally, cracking down hard on all provocations and violence by Ukrainian nationalists and Russian supporters of Navalny.
These are also the political parties, which, despite the political position of the party leadership, personally express understanding and solidarity with Russia.
These are also the representatives of various anti-fascist groups, who took it upon themselves to organize the march and provide security and order during the march, and who did so flawlessly, understanding that provocation is to be expected not only from the outside, but also from within the column, as possible ways to commit provocation were widely discussed on social networks and in chat rooms, including by joining the ranks of the “Regiment”.
This is exactly what happened during the formation of the column. A woman with a Ukrainian flag on her shoulders snuck into the head of the column right behind the banner, raised a placard and shouted: “Glory to Ukraine!” Abruptly turning around when she was pulled from behind by the flag, she knocked one of the portraits out of someone’s hands and broke it. This act caused bewilderment among the participants of the rally, who pointed out to her that she had “come to the wrong place.” Those in charge of internal security quickly responded to the situation, calling the participants to order. The participants of the rally did not turn violent, but simply chanted “get out” in Spanish and called for the police. The police immediately pulled the provocateur, who was trying to pretend unconscious, out of the column. That was the end of the incident.
The actions of Ukrainian nationalists living in Spain accurately reproduce and clearly demonstrate the order prevailing in Ukraine occupied by Bandera Nazis. Why was it necessary to attack people who had gathered to celebrate the Victory over Nazism peacefully? Especially since it was not only Russians who gathered there! By their actions they only show that their ideology is revanchism for the defeat of the Banderites and Nazism in the Great Patriotic War. And the Russians are to blame, of course! That is why they concentrate their anger precisely on the Russians.
Carolina, one of the Spanish organizers, the daughter of a Spanish woman who left for the Soviet Union as a child during the Civil War, put it this way, “Today more than ever, we showed our true colors. We were brave and noble. They demonstrated their intolerance. They showed us what our grandfathers fought against. Insults, violence, provocation … this is how a single point of view is imposed.“
Russians don’t come to disrupt the actions of Ukrainians, which take place every Sunday in several Spanish cities. None of the Russians are threatening Ukrainians living in Spain. So why do they consider it acceptable to insult Russians and Ukrainians who support Russia’s actions? Why do they consider it possible for them in Europe to collect lists on the basis of denunciations and put people on a website, analogous to the Ukrainian website “Peacemaker”, and then threaten them with physical violence or deportation? Ukrainian nationalists behave in Europe the way they are used to behaving in their “free and most democratic” (according to the official propaganda) Ukraine, trying to ban, arrest, deport, and even kill everyone who they do not like. The police receive a huge number of reports of threats from Russian-speaking Ukrainians and Russians. They vandalize their property, write “Russians, get out of here” on their doors with paint, and break windows. In Old Europe, all this is viewed with great suspicion.
Sources in the Spanish government said that Ukrainians have called repeatedly demanding the withdrawal of permission and a ban on the Victory Day march, to which government representatives in Madrid have flatly refused. Instead, they analyzed the social media and decided to strengthen the police detachment to protect order at the event.
The Banderites then tried to meet with the Mayor of Madrid and representatives of the Autonomous Community, but were turned away everywhere and were surprised. It seems that their style “works” in Ukraine.
After that, they sent a letter to the queen of Spain complaining about one of the organizers of the action, accusing him, without grounds, of “financing terrorism” for providing humanitarian aid to an orphanage and a hospital in Lugansk and Donetsk. They demanded his extradition to Ukraine. However, they received no response to their letter.
Then they requested permission to gather at the same time at the same place where the column of the Immortal Regiment had been starting for many years. Having been refused, they began to plan mass provocations.
At the beginning of the march, supporters of Banderite Ukraine lined a parallel street and began throwing eggs at the column. However, the police acted very quickly and harshly. The police stood as a wall between the column of the Immortal Regiment and the provocateurs, and then in small groups began to force them out into neighboring streets, and did so until they were almost completely dispersed. Only a few representatives remained, shouting their slogans, but the music and the chanting of the column drowned out their shouts.
Despite the Russophobia in the West, contrary to their concerns, passersby reacted surprisingly kindly, looking at the symbols and trying to understand what the speakers were saying.
In the column were Spanish lawyers, who have organized a center for protecting citizens of Russia and Ukraine from Russophobia. One of them, Raúl, a Spanish internationalist, said he felt it was important to support the march to “prevent those who, against the will of the nations, try to erase the history that unites us against fascism and prevent us from remembering the sacrifice that the peoples of the former Soviet Union made to the world. This is especially important at a time when all of Europe opposes Russia while ignoring our common past.“
At the end of the rally, a congratulatory address from Ambassador Yuri Korchagin of the Russian Federation was read, congratulating everyone on Victory Day and summarizing the events of this difficult May, “Thanks to the heirs of the Victory, this unprecedented feat in the name of life on Earth will not be forgotten. It will remain a benchmark to separate true values from temporal and false ones.”
The Immortal Regiment march in Madrid was very inspiring for all its participants and gave hope for overcoming the Russophobic and essentially Nazi policy that is engulfing Europe.
La Nueve was the name given to the 9th Company of the 2nd Free French Armored Division, also known as the Leclerc Division. It was a rather famous company that consisted almost entirely of Spanish Republicans under French command. It included about 150 Spanish servicemen, while other Spanish soldiers were scattered among the various companies of General Leclerc’s division.
