/ Česky /
In December 2024, Lukáš Borl published an article using a photo of alleged ‘unbreakable anarchist’ Sergei Petrovich posing with neo-Nazi Marsinkevich.
Was it just a momentary freak-out on Sergei’s part? Absolutely not! Petrovichev died in battle as a longtime member of the OUN battalion, and his friends included other far-right militants. ‘A Russian who had been fighting in the ranks of the OUN Volunteer Battalion since 2014 and remained faithful to his OUN oath until the end.’ The OUN report on Petrovichev’s death said.
For those who still don’t get it, Petrovichov was an active part of the OUN, so he could hardly have been an ‘unbreakable anarchist’ as Anarchistická federace (the Anarchist Federation in Czech Republic) and others falsely write about him. The ideology of the OUN was strongly influenced in its early days by German Nazism and Italian fascism, combining extreme nationalism with terrorism, corporatism and anti-Semitism. The OUN pursued a strategy of violence, terrorism and murder with the aim of creating an ethnically homogeneous and totalitarian Ukrainian state. OUN members actively participated in the Holocaust in Ukraine and Poland…
No, these are not really the activities and goals of ‘unbreakable anarchists’.
Many Ukrainian historians claim that from 1941 and especially after the war the OUN developed in an anti-Nazi direction. However, the denial of the OUN’s role in the Holocaust began in 1943 after it became clear that Germany would lose the war. The cover-up of the OUN’s history continued after the war, with OUN propaganda describing its legacy as ‘heroic Ukrainian resistance against the Nazis and Communists.’
But how does the OUN present itself today and what values does it stand for? We can read about it in the document “Programme of the OUN Volunteer Movement”.
“The practice of political life in Ukraine after the declaration of independence in 1991 has shown that it is not possible to overthrow a regime of internal occupation led by an oligarchy through the mechanism of elections to office. In fact, the overthrow of the oligarchy and the establishment of a nationalist system in Ukraine is both in form and content a national revolution, the initial stage of which will be national opposition to the criminal regime and the establishment of a national dictatorship in Ukraine. (…) In the initial phase of the National Revolution, the Volunteer Movement of the OUN will establish a national dictatorship in the form of the National Revolutionary Leadership (NRP) (…) In Ukraine, only the regime of the national dictatorship, which will emerge as a result of the national revolution and in the conditions of the national liberation war, will be able, with God’s help, to defeat the external and internal occupiers.”
A national dictatorship in Ukraine enforced with God’s help? So this is the “self-determination of the Ukrainian people” that all those pro-war “anarchists”, “anti-fascists” and “anti-authoritarians” who appeal to us to support people like Petrovichev so often talk about?
Perhaps to add emphasis to his determination to fight for “national liberation”, i.e. national dictatorship, Sergei found a penchant for posing with various far-right figures. The neo-Nazi Marksinkevich was certainly not the only far-right leader with whom he fraternized. Among his favourites were the leader of the OUN, Mykola Kokhanovsky, and the head of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi party ‘Brotherhood’, Dmytro Korchinsky (Ukrajinsky: Дмитро Олександрович Корчинський).
Dmytro Korchinsky = head of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi party Brotherhood
Mykola Kochanivsky = leader of the OUN
It is also worth noting the photo of Sergei Petrovichev posing in a t-shirt printed with the UPA propaganda motif. Yes, the same Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which is perceived as highly controversial, particularly because of its links with the Nazis and because of its massacres of civilians.
We wonder what explanation the “pro-war anarchists” of the Anarchistická federace, Solidarity Collectives, ABC Dresden, ABC Belarus, Pramen, Autonomous Action, etc. have for these disturbing facts. Will they come again with the tired song about people like Sergei Petrovichev serving in ultra-right military units but dying in them as anarchists?
We want to stress one fact. The point of this article is not to dispute that real anarchists and anti-fascists are also dying as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In no way do we condone this invasion, and we do not have the slightest sympathy for Putinism. However, we do not have the slightest sympathy for war propaganda, whether it comes from the Kremlin or from an anti-fascist environment.
And by the way, if the next time someone asks for your support for “anarchist troops in Ukraine”, remember BOAK’s words from late 2024:
“Today, as far as we know, there are no anarchist units in Ukraine. (…) However, the idea of creating an anti-authoritarian units is still alive. (…) Unfortunately, there are no recent reports on the further development of this project.” (*)
// Anti-militarist initiative // Antimilitaristische initiative // Антимілітаристська ініціатива // (AMI), April 2025
SOURCES:
(*) source of BOAK citation:
http://boakor7dmr63zguccltp6nki56ou4oppirhyllfck7yd3sifywinhkyd.onion/index.php/en/news/350-2024-eng
https://attaque.noblogs.org/post/2025/02/21/russie-belarus-et-ukraine-boak-quelques-resultats-de-lannee-2024/