Vasyl Tymchina, head of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, expressed "Russo-phobic and anti-Semitist" attitudes at the opening of a monument to Soviet victims of the 1932-1933 famine in late November.
"Russia is deeply concerned by the escalation of openly nationalist, anti-Russian and Russo-phobic sentiments and attitudes in Ukraine," the ministry said. "We are actually speaking of attempts to use difficult periods of our joint history to take political advantage of dubious ideology."
The ministry also said that continuing acts of vandalism in western parts of Ukraine against Russian monuments, particularly against WWII Soviet-era statues, cause indignation and criticized Ukraine's attempts to romanticize the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which has been accused of cooperating with the Nazis in WWII.
The UPA was formed in 1942 on the initiative of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). UPA operated mostly in western Ukraine, historically opposed to Russian domination, and fought against the Soviet Army. The UPA is known to have cooperated with the Nazis, even though at the end of the war, it fought against them and the Soviet Army together.
In 2007, President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree to celebrate the UPA formation as a national holiday. He also awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine posthumously to UPA leader Roman Shukhevich.
"Russia hopes that not only the authorities, but the Ukrainian intelligentsia, veterans and youth will express their concerns. It is high time to revoke such demonstrations of nationalism. On our behalf, we want to stress that Russia will keep an unswerving course to preserving and developing Ukrainian culture, and strengthening humanitarian relations between our brotherly nations," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry declined to make any comment on the statement from Russia.
