Ukrainian Parliament Bans Communist, Nazi Symbols

KIEV (Sputnik) – The parliament of Ukraine passed a bill Thursday to ban propaganda of Communist and Nazi regimes and their symbols.

The initiative said:

“The Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes as criminal at the legislative level, imposing a ban on public denial of criminal nature of these totalitarian regimes and a ban on public use and propaganda of their symbols.”

The bill received 254 “yes” votes, slightly above the required minimum of 226 votes.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian parliament also passed a bill to recognize the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) organization as fighters for Ukrainian independence. The UIA fought against Soviet guerrillas as well as against Nazi occupation between 1943 and 1944.

Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov said that Kiev is mistakenly equating Soviet Communism with Nazism by "having prohibited the advocacy of both."