The occupational “authorities” of Crimea, unrecognized in the world, have once again started talking about the need to hold a new trial “like Nuremberg” to “convict Ukrainian” alleged “war criminals”, including the country’s top leadership. “The Kyiv authorities must be held accountable for the events in Bucha, Odessa and Mariupol,” Vladimir Konstantinov, the head of the occupation “state council” in Crimea appointed by Moscow, said on December 7. His statement, citing “RIA Novosti”, was disseminated by almost all the central media of the aggressor.
Vladimir Konstantinov’s rhetoric is not new. Earlier in April 2022, he already stated that allegedly “Ukraine has reached Nazism.” Then he pointed out that the Nuremberg Trials allegedly “did not punish 90% of the guilty” and called for “preparing for Nuremberg-2”, “forming the charges, intensifying and expanding the work” at “teachers’ forums”, as well as through representatives “who will go to schools and universities to convey the truth about Nazism to children and young people”.
It should be reminded that a number of experts and observers have long called Vladimir Konstantinov’s statements and declarations prepared in the Kremlin and broadcast by the “Crimean speaker” on the agressor’s instructions.
Earlier, in November, he had already “become famous” for appearing on the “Millet TV” channel and ambiguously, from the generally accepted point of view of the Kremlin, assessing the so-called “special operation in Ukraine”, calling for peace talks under the auspices of the elected US President Donald Trump.
“Today, in my deep inner conviction, I do not rely on any data, neither closed nor open, only on my intuition – it will be very difficult to refuse Trump in his initiatives… For us, for Crimea, the lifting of sanctions and the recognition of Crimea… is very important. It would be very important for the country… Then this whole special operation would look quite… and we could well interpret this as a victory. Quite,” he said.
According to experts, “this is confusion and fear – this is how we should treat Konstantinov’s words. Confusion because we need to look for ways to negotiate, and then the question of the status of Crimea will arise. Fear because there will be a clear position: Crimea is Ukraine. Observers also suggest that such statements “are made to give hope for a quick end to the conflict to those pro-Russian Crimeans who are increasingly dissatisfied with the falling standard of living.”
In June 2022, Russian authorities, having blocked access to the content of a number of independent Western media outlets, including the BBC, restricted the viewing and broadcast of a documentary about the history of Nazism in Germany.
In Russia itself, they prefer not to talk about the presence, distribution and development of nationalist cells in the country, including the Nazi type. In addition, Vladimir Konstantinov forgot to mention in his latest statement that neo-Nazi organizations exist and operate with impunity in the Russian army.
The “Russian Community” project appeared in Russia at the end of 2020, the BBC Russian Service reports. One of its founders is Yevgeny Chesnokov, the former coordinator of the “For Life” movement, which advocates a complete ban on abortions in Russia. Other well-known co-founders: former vice-speaker of the Omsk City Council Andrei Tkachuk and journalist of the “SPAS” TV channel, and formerly of “Tsargrad” Andrei Afanasyev.
Both Tkachuk and Afanasyev are well acquainted with businessman and founder of “Tsargrad” Konstantin Malofeyev, who in 2014 provided financial support to the self-proclaimed separatist entities “DPR” and “LPR:. Afanasyev in the 2010s already led several far-right projects financed by Malofeyev. First it was the “Russian Youth Organization”, then the “Double-Headed Eagle”.
A quire similar project, the Russian Community of Crimea, which originated in Crimea in the early 1990s, led to the failed attempt to separate the Crimean autonomy from Ukraine in 1994-1995 under “President Yuri Meshkov”, and also contributed to the subsequent occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. Konstantin Malofeyev, along with the well-known Russian terrorist Igor Girkin, are directly involved in the Kremlin’s military operation to seize Crimea.
It was they who carried out additional reconnaissance of the situation and the corresponding contacts with the current Kremlin appointees Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergei Aksyonov. The latter, since December 2010, was already the “leader of the all-Crimean socio-political movement” “Russian Unity”, formed by the merger of Sergei Tsekov’s “Russian Community of Crimea”, “Civil Asset of Crimea”, the all-Crimean movement “Russian Unity” of Aksyonov himself and a number of other organizations.
