Concerning the photo exhibition of Ukrainian neo-Nazis in Valletta

We were surprised to learn about a photo exhibition dedicated to Ukrainian neo-Nazis being held in the capital of Malta, so that at first we could not believe our eyes. Perhaps the management of the Malta Society of Arts was unaware of the failed attempt to hold a similar event in November 2022 in Barcelona, when, under pressure from numerous complaints from an outraged public about the Nazi theme of the upcoming exhibition, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia hastily refused to provide its venue for the exhibition, stating that it “categorically rejects Nazism and regrets the situation that has arisen.”

It is not difficult to understand the reasons for the Spanish university's decision. Have a look, for example, at the personality of one of the organizers of the photo exhibition - Dmitry Kazatsky, the former chief PR officer of the infamous Azov battalion, who was noted for his publications on social networks scandalous photographs with Nazi symbols.

As is known, after his release from Russian captivity, Kazatsky went on tour throughout the United States and Europe, talking about the “exploits” of his ingloriously surrendered or destroyed comrades.

At the same time, in his speeches he diligently concealed not only information about their total adherence to the Ukronazi ideology, but also about the atrocities and war crimes they had committed, such as shooting civilians or mocking the corpses of the dead. We would like to remind you that in an interview with Ukrainian media, Kazatsky once admitted that such videos were filmed on the instructions of the Ukrainian leadership for propaganda purposes - to instill fear in the hearts of Ukrainian militias and Russian soldiers. However, the effect was the opposite.

The “track records” of the other exhibition subjects are also rather significant. Among them is Nikola Mirovic, a member of the Ukrainian nationalist extremist organization Right Sector and later of the Azov battalion, who has a tattoo of the German Iron Cross (the identification mark of the Wehrmacht) on his arm. According to reports, as a member of the medical brigade, he was involved in the trafficking of organs of seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

An equally odious “hero” is Dmitry Kotsyubailo, one of the most bloodthirsty nationalists of the Right Sector, the grandson of a member of the UPA (a Ukrainian extremist organization during the Second World War that collaborated with Nazi Germany and forever tainted itself by organizing ethnic cleansing against Jews, Poles, Russians and other national minorities), who made the extermination of Donbass residents his profession.

In his memoirs, he repeatedly shared gory details of how he mocked the “separatists,” including the elderly. He joked that he “feeds his wolf (he actually kept the animal in a cage near his office in Avdeevka) with the bones of Russian-speaking children.”

And the organizers of the exhibition present such inglorious characters to the people of Malta for honoring?

The Embassy refuses to believe that such an exhibition, which desecrates the memory not only of the Maltese victims of the horrific Nazi bombings honored by the memorial in Floriana but also of the inhabitants of Donbas, who died at the hands of the descendants of Ukrainian Nazis, was deliberately organized in Malta.

Otherwise, this fact, which cannot be qualified none other than as the glorification of Nazism, evokes nothing but indignation and disgust.

We hope that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding, which became possible due to the fact that the Maltese organizers were trivially misled. Now that we have shed light on the dark pages of the biography of exhibition’s subjects, the Embassy demands the immediate closure of the exhibition and awaits clarification from the organizers of the exhibition from the Maltese side - the Malta Society of Arts.