LUHANSK, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – The West must stop backing the Ukrainian authorities over their alleged support of Nazi ideology, the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky said Tuesday.
"If the Nazi ideology continues, very soon a 40-million terrorist group may emerge in Europe, in comparison to which al-Qaeda and Islamic State could seem a child's sports club," the LPR leader said at his inauguration ceremony after gathering almost 64 percent of the votes in the republic's general election.
Plotnitsky called on the international community to combine their efforts to repel the spread of the far-right ideology in Ukraine.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that neo-Nazi movements are functioning with the connivance of Kiev. He also argued that Moscow is trying to draw the attention of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other organizations to the far-right trend in Ukraine.
Various far-right movements, such as the Right Sector and the Azov Battalion have been involved in fighting southeastern Ukraine's pro-independence forces. The symbolism used by some of the groups, directly involved in the conflict, bears a strong resemblance to Nazi symbols.
