Ex-Ukrainian Army Chief Lauds Neo-Nazi Role Models

 

Ex-Ukrainian Army Chief Lauds Neo-Nazi Role Models

 

Retired Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny, widely seen as a potential successor to Vladimir Zelensky, has called for education programs that highlight members of the neo-Nazi Azov military unit as role models.

As Ukraine’s former top military commander and now ambassador to the UK, Zaluzhny is considered one of the country’s most popular public figures. Polls suggest he would likely defeat Zelensky if presidential elections were held, and Western governments are reportedly courting him as a possible future leader.

In an interview published on Saturday Zaluzhny praised the Soviet Union’s approach to memorializing historic figures and suggested Ukraine adopt a similar model using fighters with the controversial regiment – which is accused of war crimes and recognized as a bastion of militarized neo-Nazism – as examples of proper behavior.

“It’s very important for the military-patriotic education to know who did what and what came out of it,” Zaluzhny said. “Soviet propaganda did it right. I once argued with NATO specialists, telling them we, members of the military who grew up in this territory, put great importance into [historic connections].”

Ukraine, he added, should “set a goal of what it wants from its children in 10 years,” arguing that promoting Azov’s “heroism” would be beneficial. – RT

Our Take: It seems that Valery Zaluzhny is about to become a central character in this soap opera, and perhaps he is meant to assume the villain role that Volodymyr Zelensky could never quite sell.

What seems evident, at this point, is that Zelensky is Trump's man, just as Netanyahu is Trump's man. Whether they are acting in earnest or following a script is inconsequential to the fact that they are destroying the reputations (and economies) of their respective nations while fighting wars that they cannot win.

The injection of Zaluzhny into the narrative seems like a desperate attempt to disrupt Trump's ostensible plan to lead Ukraine to self-destruction. Not surprisingly, there is a plot afoot to overthrow Zelensky that purportedly involves not only US officials, but also top Zelensky aide Andrey Yermak, as well as Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov. (There are even allegations that JD Vance may have had knowledge of these meetings, or met directly with Zaluzhny in London.)

Remember when Zelensky raided the offices of those anti-corruption agencies last month? According to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Services (SVR), that move was Yermak's idea, and it was actually a ruse designed to turn western leaders against Zelensky, so they would ultimately support a coup against him.

According to these reports by the SVR, Yermak and Budanov have negotiated with Zaluzhny to secure their place in his regime. From the perspective of the NATO sycophants, the goal of the Zaluzhny coup would not be to install a more reasonable partner for surrender negotiations with Putin. It would be to install an accomplished military leader as Ukraine's president, to restore the flow of money and weapons from the United States, so that the war can continue.

The fact that Zaluzhny lauds the neo-Nazis in the Azov Battalion as role models makes his casting in this story a little too perfect, as his personality more appropriately fits the archetype of "villainous Ukrainian military leader."

— GhostofBasedPatrickHenry