Kiev denies the Nazi division’s symbols of the SS Galicia division
The law came into force in Ukraine in May 2015. Clause 5 of Part 1 of Article 1 of this law provides a list of what is meant by Nazi symbols.
The SS Division "Galicia" - a military unit recruited from Ukrainian volunteers during the Second World War - was established in Western Ukraine with the permission of the German occupation authorities. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army defeated this division near the Ukrainian city of Brody. In Ukraine, there is no unequivocal assessment of the division’s activities: some political forces claim that the division fought for the freedom and independence of Ukraine, others are convinced that the division was on the side of the fascists.
In 2009, Russia appealed to the UN against the establishment of a memorial plaque to the Galichina military division in Ternopil. Then the deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN declared that the decision of the city council of Ternopil to establish a memorial plaque in honor of the SS division "Galicia" was "blasphemous", like a number of other actions of the Ukrainian authorities to glorify Nazism.
Information