Pilger said the rise of the fascist movement in Ukraine can trace its history back to the Second World War when the fascist movement joined the Nazis in the invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian fascists were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, ethnic Russians and others.
He said western Ukraine has been the breeding ground for fascism for some time. "It’s a minority, but a very powerful minority," he said.
"And the Right Sector owe an historical allegiance to the early fascists and now have influence deep inside the Kiev government."
Pilger told Sputnik: "Their influence has been equalled by the amount of denial in the West. The denial — particularly in the American media — that fascism has risen again in Ukraine has been quite extraordinary."
Since 1945, more than a third of @UN members — 69 countries — have suffered at the hands of US modern fascism… http://t.co/E0brdd7VbY
— John Pilger (@johnpilger) February 26, 2015
Fascism Driving Western Militarism
"The atrocity in Odessa when 41 people were burned to death in the trade union headquarters, was caused by fascist militias. The word fascism is almost never mentioned [in the mainstream US media].
"It’s an extraordinary situation because, when you have people like the deputy foreign minister of Ukraine [Vadym Prystaiko] now saying that the world should look forward to a full scale war with Russia, then there’s more than simply a divided state there. There is a fascist element that is pushing this militarism."
He said there has been a fascist, neo-Nazi element throughout Eastern Europe, which has always been there.
"Many of the Nazis for Germany were given safe passage at the end of World War II, into top-level positions in the West, particularly in the United States. There has always been a fascist strain right throughout Eastern Europe leading up to the borderland of Ukraine.
"The coup – and that’s what it was – in February last year in Kiev, was a breaking point. The point where it tipped over. The snipers in [Maidan Square], the extraordinary violence that took the lives of eighty-odd people. There is now enough evidence to show that the neo-Nazis had a great deal to do with that."
"They are almost classic Nazi tactics. They go back to Germany and it’s a very worrying situation. But there’s a whole denial, such as the present campaign against Russia, that there is a corresponding denial of this renewal of fascism in Europe."
