An activist from violent Ukrainian neo-Nazi gang C14 spoke at the US government’s America House Kyiv, and worked with Kiev police to “purge” Roma citizens.
By Ben Norton
A prominent activist from the violent Ukrainian neo-Nazi gang C14 spoke at an event at a US government organization in Ukraine‘s capital Kiev.
This young fascist leader has also boasted of working with Kiev police to “purge” Roma citizens from a train station, according to a Ukrainian human rights organization.
The Grayzone Project has previously reported on how the US government has armed the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, which is embedded in Ukraine’s National Guard, and which has met with US military advisers.
C14 is even more notorious than Azov. This Nazi gang has carried out a slew of violent attacks on ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities in Ukraine. C14, whose name is a direct reference to the white supremacist “14 words” slogan, has specifically targeted Roma communities in a series of pogroms — and has enjoyed the help of local cops.
C14 has also received funding from the Ukrainian government, in the form of a Ministry of Youth and Sport grant for “national-patriotic education projects.”
A young organizer with this neo-Nazi gang, Serhiy Bondar, updated his cover photo on Facebook on October 6. This image showed him speaking at America House Kyiv, a US government institution that describes itself as “your main resource in Ukraine for American culture, education, and information.”
Christopher Miller, a correspondent for the US government’s Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFERL) based in Kiev, drew attention on Twitter to this disturbing speech.
Neo-Nazi C14 vigilantes appear to work with Kyiv police in latest ‘purge’ of Roma in Ukraine, @halyapuff writes. https://t.co/VeNG7al5jN Also disturbing, C14 leader Serhiy Bondar has Facebook cover photo of himself speaking about his vigilante group at US gov-funded @AmHouseKyiv. pic.twitter.com/MdBqoFybS4
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) October 25, 2018
Miller asked America House Kyiv to comment, “after hosting neo-Nazi C14 group leader on US taxpayer dollars in Kyiv.”
The organization replied stating, “Neither America House nor the U.S. Embassy invited this individual to speak at the event focused on community safety; our partner made a last-minute program change. Obviously, we would never knowingly give a platform to anyone embracing hate speech and violence, and we are reviewing procedures to prevent a recurrence.”
Serhiy Bondar, the extreme-right C14 activist, spoke at an event on October 6 that was hosted by DreamKyiv, an urban development group that was founded after the Euromaidan protests, which set the stage for a 2014 coup in which Ukrainian fascists played a key role.
On its website, DreamKyiv lists as its “partner” the International Renaissance Foundation, a pro-capitalist organization that was founded by anti-communist billionaire George Soros in order to help transition former Soviet countries to market-based economies.
A video of the event posted on DreamKyiv’s Facebook page clearly shows the neo-Nazi C14 member speaking in front of a US flag. His speech begins at 1:14:50 in the livestream.
Numerous Ukrainian patrol police officers also spoke at DreamKyiv’s event, and can be seen speaking from 14:53 until Bondar is handed the mic an hour later.
The fact that numerous Ukrainian police would share a stage at a US government-funded institution with a neo-Nazi leader might seem shocking, but this collaboration extends much further.
Ukranian police collaborating with violent Nazis
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reported in late October that C14 had launched a raid to “purge” Roma Ukrainians from Kiev’s southern railway station, in collaboration with city police.
The operation was conducted by C14 members and a “Kyiv municipal watch” vigilante group led by fellow C14 activist Serhiy Bondar.
“What is much more disturbing is that the action appears to have been with the cooperation of the police, and was essentially given glowing coverage on a national television news broadcast,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group wrote.
Bondar published on his personal Facebook page a video of the raid, which he described as a “purge of gypsies at the capital’s railway station.”
The human rights organization noted that local media outlets “virtually parrot[ed] parts of the C14 video.”
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has documented at least five attacks by far-right groups on Roma camps in the six months since April. These fascist pogroms have killed one man and wounded a woman and child.
