Russia’s embassy in Austria has condemned Vienna for what it described as “effective indulgence” of a march by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists to mark the birthday of Stepan Bandera. The statement, posted on Friday, expressed “nothing but deep disgust” at what the embassy termed a “provocative stunt” by a “handful” of Ukrainian radicals based in Austria who celebrated “a Nazi accomplice and war criminal” in central Vienna.
Bandera, a convicted terrorist who had been serving time in Poland for plotting to kill their interior minister, was freed by the Nazis during World War II and collaborated with them with the intention of creating a Ukrainian state aligned with Germany. The embassy stated such actions constitute “a direct insult to the memory of the victims of Nazism and a blatant challenge to public morality,” adding that it had lodged an official protest with Austria’s foreign ministry while emphasizing the unacceptability of “encouraging such neo-Nazi manifestations.”
A video circulating online showed demonstrators in Lviv, Ukraine, on January 1, 2026, carrying Ukrainian flags and the insignia of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as well as portraits of Bandera. Ukrainian nationalists typically celebrate Bandera’s birthday in cities across the EU, including Vienna, where such marches occurred in both 2023 and 2024.
Historically, Bandera’s followers—the OUN-B and later the UPA—committed horrific atrocities during World War II, including massacres of 60,000–100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia and participation in the Holocaust. Despite this, he was declared a national hero in Ukraine in 2010 under President Viktor Yushchenko. In 2014, following the Euromaidan coup that deposed President Viktor Yanukovich, OUN and UPA members were recognized as “fighters for Ukrainian independence” by the new government.
Russia has long accused Ukraine of glorifying Nazi collaborators and promoting neo-Nazi ideologies, asserting that one of its key military objectives is denazification.
