Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social media are posting images purporting to have published an article on the Diia website explaining why Nazism is normal. The title on it looks like “Why are Ukrainian fighters who fought on the side of the Nazis our heroes? Special material about fighters for Ukrainian independence who made a brave choice in the war”. The propagandists add that these publications on the website allegedly appeared after the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the Parliament of Canada greeted a veteran of the SS division Galicia, which was part of the Waffen SS troops of Nazi Germany. However, this is a fake.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that there are no articles about soldiers who fought on the side of the Nazis in the “news” section on the Diia website after the “education” request. In addition, the published photo is dated September 25, but in fact, this section contains posts dated September 4 and 26, and they do not mention the Ukrainian military. The design of the site, the “education” section and the articles in it also differ from those in the image of the propagandists. The site only publishes news related to the Action application or digitization, so it is unlikely that an article on a historical topic will appear on it.

The inauthenticity of this message is also indicated by errors in the text. In particular, the phrase “awarded with applause” and the expression “it is important to look at many things” are inherent in the Russian language. Also, the authors made a mistake and used the word “beat” instead of the verb “struggle” in the phrase “fought against Soviet oppression”. It also has the capital letter that begins the word “Soviet” but it is a common name, not a proper name, in this sentence.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to reinforce negative stereotypes about Ukrainians. Like, they are ready to glorify the Nazis even on the website of a technological application for document management. In this way, the Russians justify their aggression against Ukraine, namely, they create a false need for “denazification”. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted fakes, messages and manipulations in which Russians manipulated the topic of Nazism.