On December 16-19th, Georgian (1,2,3) and Russian-language (1,2,3,4) Facebook accounts, as well as the Facebook page of the anti-liberal “Georgian Idea” party, published information about the resolution submitted by the Russian Federation to the United Nations, which concerned the condemnation Nazism, neo-Nazism and its other manifestations. According to some accounts, the countries that did not vote for the resolution, in fact, support Nazism.
On December 18th, the same resolution was discussed in the program “Alternative Vision” of the pro-Kremlin Alt-Info TV, where Giorgi Kiknadze, a member of the “Conservative Movement” party, said that by not supporting the resolution, the Georgian government, along with 50 other countries, recognized fascism and Nazism as permissible. In the same program, Hamlet Chipashvili, another pro-Russian actor, said that with the efforts of the Americans, 50 states have adopted the position that fascism is not only reprehensible but an excellent ideology and that Georgia has joined Moldova to defend Ukrainian fascism.
Russian- (1,2,3) and Georgian-language (1,2,3) Facebook users, including former member of the parliament Demur Giorkhelidze, have been voicing the same claims about the resolution at the beginning of November as well.
Claims about the resolution on condemnation of Nazism submitted by Russia are being disseminated without context. In fact, as explained by some of the countries that did not support the resolution, voting against the resolution does not entail supporting Nazism, as Russia’s goal is to use the resolution to justify its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Selected Facebook accounts have been disseminating information about the mentioned resolution without context, which created the impression that the countries that opposed the resolution were advocating for the Nazi ideology. The guests of “Alternative Vision” directly accused the countries that voted against the mentioned document of supporting Nazism.
Since 2012, the Russian Federation has repeatedly been submitting the resolution on “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” to the UN General Assembly.
The General Assembly would adopt the resolution every year by a large majority of countries. The majority of European countries would, in general, abstain from voting, while several countries, including the United States of America and Ukraine, would vote against the resolution.
In 2022, a number of countries, including almost all European countries, changed their position and voted against the resolution at the 54th meeting of the 77th session on December 15th. The total number of such countries was 50. Despite this, the resolution received the support of 120 countries, and ten members of the assembly abstained from voting.
The representative of the Russian Federation called the results of the vote at the UN shocking because, according to him, the former “Axis Powers” (Germany, Italy, and Japan) voted against the condemnation of Nazism for the first time. The same fact was highlighted by the Russian propaganda media Ukraina.ru, the article of which mentions that Germany, Austria, Japan and Italy are trying to use the moment and erase the memory of the tragic events of the last century, thereby whitewashing their criminal past.
The representative of Ukraine at the United Nations noted that by lobbying for the resolution, Russia is trying to justify the illegal invasion of Ukraine, which started with the motive of fighting neo-Nazism. He also noted that the facts of the killing of civilians included in the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights constitute a war crime and that “rapists should not be allowed to teach us about rape”.
The same position was expressed by the United States of America, whose representative stressed that Moscow’s resolution does not represent a serious effort to fight against Nazism and anti-Semitism, and instead, it is a shameful ploy to justify an aggressive war in Ukraine.
The United States gave an explanation of its position regarding the resolution in November as well, when the Russian Federation registered the draft resolution. According to Nicholas Hill, the US Deputy Representative to the Economic and Social Council, Russia is trying to discredit its neighbours by using disinformation narratives with the presented document. Also, the United States, which fought on the side of the Allies during World War II, strongly condemns the glorification of Nazism and modern forms of violent extremism, anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, discrimination and other intolerance.
The representative of the Czech Republic, speaking on behalf of the European Union, also explained their position. According to him, the term denazification used in the resolution, which is often used by the Russian Federation to describe the illegal invasion of Ukraine, distorts the understanding of the Holocaust.
This was the position of the European Union in November as well. According to the representative of the EU, it has been demanding for years that the fight against extremism and the condemnation of the ideology of Nazism should not be used for politically motivated purposes that serve to justify the violation of human rights.
Georgia was among the European countries that did not support the resolution submitted by Russia. However, as of now, the official bodies have not clarified the position of the country. “Myth Detector” contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia for a comment on the mentioned issue in November, however, no official explanation was given either verbally or in writing.
Claims about the said resolution and the position of the US and Ukraine have been fact-checked by “Myth Detector” in the past years as well. For more information on the topic, see our articles:
- ‘Politicano’ Manipulates with the Decision of the US and Ukraine not to Support the UN Resolution Condemning the Glorification of Nazism
- Repeated Lie about the US and Ukraine Allegedly Supporting Nazism
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