The All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" (), commonly known as V.O. Svoboda or simply Svoboda,

political party in Ukraine There have been numerous political parties active in Ukraine in the past and present. Currently, as of 1 January 2020, there are 349 officially registered political parties in the country.Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Social-National Party of Ukraine The Social-National Party of Ukraine (; abbreviated SNPU) was a Far-right politics, far-right party in Ukraine that would later become Svoboda (political party), Svoboda. The party combined Ultranationalism, radical nationalism, neo-fascism, neo-f ...

(SNPU) formed and officially registered as a political party in October 1995. The SNPU was characterized as a radical right-wing populist party that combined elements of ethnic ultranationalism and

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

. During the 1990s, it was accused of

neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

due to the party's recruitment of

skinheads A skinhead or skin is a member of a subculture that originated among working-class youth in London, England, in the 1960s. It soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working-class skinhead movement emerging worldwide i ...

and usage of neo-Nazi symbols.Andrusechko, P.
Road of Tyahnybok towards Freedom
'. "Ukrayinsky zhurnal". Poznan, May 2009 Tyahnybok was elected in 2004 as the president of the party and shortly after he made efforts to moderate the party's image by changing the party's name and symbols and expelling neo-Nazi and

neofascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xen ...

groups. Although Tyahnybok expelled neofascist groups, Svoboda never abandoned ethnic ultranationalist views and he reaffirmed the party's commitment to its original xenophobic platform. The party gained increasing popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s, winning 10.45% of the vote in the 2012 parliamentary election. Between 2009 and 2014, it was an observer member of the far-right

Alliance of European National Movements The Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) was a European political party that was formed in Budapest on 24 October 2009 by a number of ultranationalist and far-right parties from countries in Europe. AENM's founding members were Jobbik ...

. It played a role in the

2014 Ukrainian revolution The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...

and Euromaidan protests but its support dropped quickly following the

2014 elections * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presidential election 21 February and 10 April 2014 * 2014 ...

. Since then, the party has been polling below the

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

, and it currently has one seat in the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

. Svoboda's economic platform is

statist In political science, statism or etatism (from French, ''état'' 'state') is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation an ...

and anti-liberal. Its political position has been described as

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

, or

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

.Far right: * * * * * * * * * Described as an ultranationalist, right-wing populist party, it expressed support and staged commemorations honoring early 20th century, Ukrainian far-right nationalist leader

Stepan Bandera Stepan Andriyovych Bandera (, ; ; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B. Bandera was born in Austria-Hungary, in Galicia (Eas ...

, and it opposes immigration,

globalism Globalism has multiple meanings. In political science, it is used to describe "attempts to understand all of the interconnections of the modern world—and to highlight patterns that underlie (and explain) them". While primarily associated wit ...

and

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

. It is staunchly anti-communist and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

regarding social issues, and it favors

economic nationalism Economic nationalism or nationalist economics is an ideology that prioritizes state intervention in the economy, including policies like domestic control and the use of tariffs and restrictions on labor, goods, and capital movement. The core bel ...

and

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...

. The party has been described as "deeply anti-Semitic", and "fascist", though others say the party is no longer overtly anti-Semitic, and is now best described as a "radical

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

party".

History

Social-National Party of Ukraine

The Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) was registered as a party on 16 October 1995;Oblast Council demands Svoboda Party be banned in Ukraine

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(12 May 2011) the constituent congress of the party took place on 13 October 1991, in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. The party was established by the Soviet-Afghan War veterans organization, the youth organization "Spadshchyna" (''Heritage'', headed by

Andriy Parubiy Andriy Volodymyrovych Parubiy (; born 31 January 1971) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician who served as the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, from 14 April 2016 to 29 August 2019. He previo ...

), the Lviv Student Fraternity (headed by

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Rukh Guard (headed by Yaroslav Andrushkiv and Yuriy Kryvoruchko). Dr. Yaroslav Andrushkiv was elected leader of the party. The party adopted a party emblem associated with

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and which is used by neo-Nazi organizations in Europe.Andrusechko, P.
Way of Tyahnybok to Freedom
'. Poznan: "Ukrayinskyi zhurnal", May 2009 The SNPU's official program defined itself as an "irreconcilable enemy of Communist ideology". According to Svoboda's website, during the

1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election The year 1994 was designated as the "International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Charter, Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 ...

s the party presented its platform as distinct from those of the communists and social democrats. In the 1998 parliamentary elections, the party joined a bloc of parties (together with the All-Ukrainian Political Movement "State Independence of Ukraine") called "Fewer Words" (), which collected 0.16% of the national vote.Всеукраїнське об'єднання «Свобода»
, Database ASD

Candidates list for ''Less words''
,

Central Election Commission of Ukraine The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (, commonly abbreviated as , ); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian state that acts on the basis of th ...

Party member

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Олег Тягнибок
,

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of Independence Ukrainian Parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

in this election. He became a member of the

People's Movement of Ukraine The People's Movement of Ukraine () is a Ukraine, Ukrainian political party and one of the first Opposition (politics), opposition parties in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine.The first officially registered opposition politica ...

faction. The SNPU established the paramilitary organization

Patriot of Ukraine The Patriot of Ukraine () was an ultranationalist organization in Ukraine founded in 1999, disbanded in 2004, revived in 2005 and defunct since December 2014. In its original form, it was launched in 1999 and became paramilitary wing of the Soc ...

in 1999 as an "Association of Support" for the

military of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

, and registered it with the Ministry of Justice. The paramilitary organization was disbanded in 2004 during the SNPU's reformation but was reconstituted as an independent organization in 2005. Svoboda officially ended association with the group in 2007, but they remained informally linked into the 2010s, with representatives of Svoboda attending social campaigns such as protests against price increases and leafleting against drugs and alcohol. In 2014, Svoboda was noted for clashing with the far-right group

Right Sector Right Sector () is a loosely defined coalition of right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organizations. It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several ultranationalist organizations at the Euroma ...

, a coalition which included Patriot of Ukraine. In 2001, the SNPU joined some actions of the "

Ukraine without Kuchma "Ukraine without Kuchma" (; ''Ukrayina bez Kuchmy'', Russian: Украина без Кучмы, UBK) was a mass protest campaign that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001, demanding the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma, and preceding the ...

" protest campaign and was active in forming the association of Ukraine's rightist parties and in supporting

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

's candidacy for

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, although it did not participate in the 2002 parliamentary elections. However, as a member of

Victor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards the West, European Union, and NATO. Yushchenk ...

's Our Ukraine bloc, Tyahnybok was reelected to the Ukrainian parliament. The SNPU won two seats in the

Lviv oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

council of deputies and representation in the city and district councils in the

and

Volyn oblast Volyn Oblast () or simply Volyn (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. It borders Rivne Oblast to the east, Lviv Oblast to the south, Poland to the west and Belarus to the north. Its Capital city ...

s. In 2004, the party had less than 1,000 members. (source also availabl
here
)

All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda

In February 2004, the arrival of Oleh Tyahnybok as party leader led a significant change in moderating the Social-National Party's image. It changed its name to the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda", and abandoned the "I + N" (Ukrainian «Ідея Нації» ''"Idea Natsii" = " idea of a nation"'')

Wolfsangel (, translation "wolf's hook") or () is a heraldic charge from mainly Germany and eastern France, which was inspired by medieval European wolf traps that consisted of a Z-shaped metal hook (called the ''Wolfsangel'', or the ''crampon'' in F ...

logo (a symbol popular among

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

groups) with a three-fingered hand reminiscent of the 'Tryzub' pro-independence gesture of the late 1980s. Svoboda also pushed neo-Nazi and other radical groups out of the party, distancing itself from its neofascist past while retaining the support of extreme nationalists. Andrushkiv, former head of the party, rejected Tyahnybok's claim that Svoboda was successor party to the SNPU and called Svoboda 'a different political phenomenon.' Both he and

would leave the 'new' party following its transformation. However, Tyahnybok never concealed that these changes were made primarily for image purposes.Svoboda party – the new phenomenon on the Ukrainian right-wing scene
OSW Commentary, 5 July 2011 Tyahnybok reaffirmed the party's commitment to its original racist and xenophobic platform in a speech following the 2004 convention. The party remained associated with the 'wide social nationalist movement' (consisting of numerous organisations and websites) and gathered around the Social-Nationalist Assembly which was set up in 2008. Yuri Mykhailyshyn, Tyahnybok's adviser who topped the list of Svoboda's Lviv branch in the 2010 municipal council elections, founded the Internet ''

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

Political Research Centre'' (the centre later changed Goebbels for

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomology, entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir ''Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful busin ...

) in 2005.

, a paramilitary organisation dissolved in 2004 and re-established in 2005 in a different legal form, continued to maintain ties with Svoboda. It was not until 2007 that this paramilitary organisation announced the end of its relationship with Svoboda. Even then, some prominent Svoboda members, such as Andriy Illienko from Svoboda's Kyiv branch, continued to identify themselves with the ideas of Patriot of Ukraine, which still uses the Wolfsangel symbol. In 2004, Tyahnybok was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction for a speech calling for Ukrainians to fight against a "Muscovite-Jewish mafia", using pejorative terms for Russians and Jews alike, and celebrated the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN; ) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization established on February 2, 1929 in Vienna, uniting the Ukrainian Military Organization with smaller, mainly youth, radical nationalist right-wing groups. ...

for having fought "Moscovites, Germans, Jews and other scum who wanted to take away our Ukrainian state." The speech was delivered at the grave of a commander of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

, where Tyahnybok praised its struggle against " Moskaly", a derogatory term for either Russians or pan-Russian nationalists;Yushchenko Finally Gets Tough On Nationalists
,

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which i ...

(3 August 2004)
Germans; and " Zhydy", an archaic but controversial term for Jews in Ukraine due to it being a slur when used in the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

.Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule
by

Karel C. Berkhoff Karel Cornelis Berkhoff (born 1965) is a senior researcher at NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam. Berkhoff studied history and Russian studies at the University of Amsterdam, Soviet Studies at Harvard University ...

, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008, (page 60) Tyahnybok's 2004 comments were widely circulated on the three TV channels controlled by the head of the Presidential Administration,

Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk (; born 7 August 1954), also known as Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk (), is a former Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who has lived in exile in Russia since September 2022 after being handed ...

: State Channel 1, 1+1 and Inter. In the 2006 local elections, the party obtained 4.2% of the votes and 4 (of 64) seats in the Ternopil Oblast Council, 5.62% of the votes and 10 (of 84) seats in the

Lviv Oblast Council The Lviv Oblast Council or Lviv Regional Council () is the regional council (parliament) of the Lviv Oblast (region) located in western Ukraine. Legislative framework The Regional Council is a local self-government body representing the common ...

and 6.69% of the votes and 9 seats in the

Lviv city council The Lviv City Council () is the municipal council that governs the Ukrainian city of Lviv. The council has 64 seats and is elected every 5 years. History On May 19, 2011, the Lviv City Council voted in favor of expanding the jurisdiction of th ...

. During the 2006 parliamentary elections, they received just 0.36%. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party doubled its vote share, receiving 0.76% of the votes cast. It was ranked eighth out of 20 parties. The non-participation of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists meant it was the only far-right party to participate. In autumn 2009, Svoboda joined the

as the only organisation from outside the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. That year the party claimed to have 15,000 members.

2009 - 2012 local elections success

The party's significant electoral success was the 2009 Ternopil Oblast local election when they obtained 34.69% of the votes and 50 seats out of 120 in the Ternopil Oblast Council.Генеральна репетиція президентських виборів: на Тернопільщині стався прогнозований тріумф націоналістів і крах Тимошенко
,

Ukrayina Moloda ''Ukraina Moloda'' () is a daily Ukrainian-language newspaper based in Kyiv with a circulation of 99,000. It is published by State Company "Presa Ukrayiny". In the beginning of 2018 the editorial staff of the newspaper was asked to vacate its le ...

(17 March 2009) This was the best result for a far-right party in Ukraine's history. Tyahnybok's candidacy in the 2010 presidential election did not build on the 2009 Ternopil success. Tyahnybok received 1.43% of the vote. Most of his votes he gained in

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast (), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna () or Ternopillia (), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its Capital (political), administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret (river), Seret, a tribu ...

and

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna () or simply Frankivshchyna, is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (region) in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. It has a pop ...

accounted to 5% of the vote. In the second round, Tyahnybok did not endorse a candidate. He did present a list of some 20 demands for second round candidate

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( Hrihyan born 27 November 1960) is a Ukrainian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005, and again from 2007 until 2010; the first and only woman in Ukraine to hold that position. She has been ...

had to fulfil first before gaining his endorsement—which included publicizing alleged secret deals Tymoshenko had with

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

and ridding herself of what he called Ukraine-haters in her close circles. During the

2010 Ukrainian local elections The 2010 Ukrainian local elections took place on 31 October 2010,

, the party won between 20 and 30% of the votes in

Eastern Galicia Eastern Galicia (; ; ) is a geographical region in Western Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv Oblast, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil Oblast, Ternopil), having also essential historic importance in Poland. Galicia ( ...

, where it became one of the main forces in local government,Local government elections in Ukraine: last stage in the Party of Regions' takeover of power
,

Centre for Eastern Studies The Centre for Eastern Studies (, OSW) is a Warsaw-based think tank that undertakes independent research on the political, economic and social situation in Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. The centre was founded i ...

(4 October 2010) and accounted for 5.2% of the vote nationwide. Analysts explained Svoboda's victory in Galicia during the 2010 elections as a result of the policies of the Azarov Government, who were seen as too

pro-Russian Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...

by the electorate.Nationalist Svoboda scores election victories in western Ukraine
,

(11 November 2010)
Підсилення "Свободи" загрозою несвободи
,

BBC Ukrainian BBC News Ukrainian () is the Ukrainian service of BBC News which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Ukraine and the world. It started broadcasts in 1992.Бі-Бі-Сі – зрозуміти світ, BBC ...

(4 November 2010) According to

Andreas Umland Andreas Umland (born 1967) is a German political scientist studying contemporary Russian and Ukrainian history as well as regime transitions. He has published on the post-Soviet extreme right, municipal decentralization, European fascism, post- ...

, Senior Lecturer in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy The National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( NaUKMA, ), colloquially known as Mohylianka (), is a highly ranked national state-sponsored research university located in a historic section of Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is bilingual in U ...

,On the move: Andreas Umland, Kyiv – Mohyla Academy
,

(30 September 2010) Svoboda's increasing exposure in the Ukrainian media has contributed to its recent successes. Between 2004 and 2010, party membership increased threefold to 15,000 members (traditionally party membership is low in Ukraine. As of 2011, Svoboda had factions in eight of Ukraine's 25 regional councils, and in three of those Svoboda is the biggest faction.Ukrainian nationalist leader thriving in hard times
, Business Ukraine (20 January 2011) Reportedly, the members and supporters of Svoboda are predominantly young people. Several clergymen of the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate Ukrainian may refer or relate to: * Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe * Ukrainians, an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine * Demographics of Ukraine * Ukrainian culture, composed of the material and spiritual values of the Ukrainian peopl ...

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC; (UAPTs)) was one of the three major Eastern Orthodox churches in Ukraine in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, together with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) ...

and

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a Major archiepiscopal church, major archiepiscopal ''sui iuris'' ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Cathol ...

are Svoboda members and have stood for election as Svoboda candidates. According to the party, they were chosen on election lists "to counterbalance opponents who include "

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

priests" in their election lists and have aspirations to build the "

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n World" in Ukraine". Per the party's desire to separate the clergy from politics, all churchmen will be recalled if a draft

Constitution of Ukraine The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...

proposed by the party is approved. In early 2012, Svoboda was criticized in domestic and international media after party member

Yuri Sirotyuk Yuri may refer to: People Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), feminine Japanese given names, including a list o ...

said that Ukrainian pop star Gaitana, who is of African descent, was a poor choice to represent Ukraine at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...

because she was "not an organic representative of the Ukrainian culture" Sirotyuk stated that "It looks like we don't want to show our face, and Ukraine will be associated with a different continent, somewhere in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

2012 elections: Growing support

Starting approximately from 2009, and especially 2010, after pro-Russian Yanukovych became Ukraine's president, his government, his party (

Party of Regions A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

), and loyal oligarchs have indirectly and directly helped Svoboda in a seemingly alliance of opposites. In the run-up to the 2012 election, some Ukrainian media commentators and political analysts expected Svoboda's rising support would come at the expense of more mainstream elements of the opposition and to the benefit of the ruling "Party of Regions". In July 2012, the party agreed with

Batkivshchyna The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" (), referred to as Batkivshchyna (), is a political party in Ukraine led by People's Deputy of Ukraine, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. As the core party of the former Yulia Tymoshenko B ...

on the distribution of the candidates in single-seat constituencies (its share was 35 constituencies) in the October 2012 parliamentary elections. In the run up to these elections various opinion polls predicted the national vote (in a parliamentary election) of the party to increase six or sevenfold which would make it possible that the party would pass the 5%

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various w ...

.Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections
,

(17 November 2011)
If parliamentary elections were held next Sunday how would you vote? (recurrent, 2008–2010)
,

Razumkov Centre Razumkov Centre (), or fully the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies named after Olexander Razumkov (), is a Ukrainian non-governmental public policy think tank. Overview The Razumkov Center carries out research in domestic, econ ...

Динаміка виборчих орієнтацій громадян України
,

(10 February 2011)
Electoral moods of the Ukrainian population: September 2011
, Sociological group "RATING" (30 September 2011)
Ratings of parties
, Sociological group "RATING"
Electoral moods of the Ukrainian population: February 2012
, Sociological group "RATING" (5 March 2012) But the party's results in the elections were much better than that with 10.44 percent (almost a fourteenfold of its votes compared with the 2007 parliamentary elections) of the national votes and 38 out of 450 seats in the

Ukrainian Parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

. The lion's share of these votes were won in

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

(30–40% in three

oblasts An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

), while in

Eastern Ukraine Eastern Ukraine or East Ukraine (; ) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (provinces). Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are often also regarded as ...

it won just 1% of the votes. At the 116 foreign polling stations, Svoboda won most votes of all parties with 23,63% of all votes.After counting all ballots at 116 foreign polling stations "Svoboda" wins in parliamentary elections in Ukraine
,

National Radio Company of Ukraine The Ukrainian radio (), also called Radio Ukraine, is the publicly funded radio broadcaster in Ukraine since 1924. In 2017 it was merged with national TV company into the country's public broadcaster Suspilne.

(29 October 2012)
No violations reported at Ukraine's overseas polling stations
,

ITAR-TASS The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian state-owned news agency founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a Federal State Unitary Enterpri ...

(28 October 2012) In

the party reportedly won over 50% of the votes. In

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

it became the second most popular party, after

Fatherland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic nation ...

. Voting analysis showed it was the party most popular among voters with a

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

(about 48% of its voters had a higher education).

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform of Vitali Klitschko (, using the acronym UDAR Vitali Klitschko () translates to "strike" or "punch", ) is a political party in Ukraine headed by retired anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measur ...

stance and because it has softened its own image.Svoboda: The rise of Ukraine's ultra-nationalists
,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(26 December 2012) According to Sociological group "RATING", the percentage of the party's electorate who only use the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...

decreased from 75% to 68% between September 2012 and March 2013.

2012 election aftermath and Euromaidan campaign

Opposition leaders by the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday

During the first two sessions of the newly elected parliament, Svoboda MPs and other opposition politicians physically clashed with other MPs during the election of a prime minister and speaker amid allegations of continued voting for absent colleagues by government legislators. Clashes again erupted in March 2013 between Svoboda and

MPs, when ruling Party of Regions MP Oleksandr Yefremov delivered a speech in Russian; the speech was drowned out by Svoboda MPs, shouting "Speak Ukrainian!" A later speech by Tyahnybok provoked chants of "Fascist" and a large, brief fist-fight between the two parties. Svoboda MP and deputy leader Ihor Miroshnychenko attracted international criticism in December 2012 for writing on his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

wall that American actress

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and raised in Los Angeles, she was Jackie Burkhart on ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and has voiced Meg Griffin on ''Family Guy'' since ...

, who was born in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of Jewish descent, is "not Ukrainian but a zhydivka" (a pejorative term for a Jew).Winer, Stuart
Ukraine okays 'zhyd' slur for Jews
, The Times of Israel, 19 December 201
International Business Times
, ''Svoboda: The Rising Spectre Of Neo-Nazism In The Ukraine'', 27 December 2012. According to Svoboda, the word does not have the

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

connotation in Ukrainian that it does in Russian. Citing a Ukrainian academic dictionary, the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

considered the word archaic but not necessarily a slur. Svoboda has repeatedly said that it would not stop using words it considers legitimate Ukrainian parlance. Attempts to use antisemitism as a propaganda weapon against the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

movement were noted, and reports of widespread antisemitism were disputed by analysts, historians and human-rights activists.
In May 2013, Svoboda, Fatherland and UDAR announced that they would coordinate during the

2015 Ukrainian presidential election Snap presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 25 May 2014 and resulted in Petro Poroshenko being elected President of Ukraine. Originally scheduled to take place on 29 March 2015, the date was brought forward following the 2014 Ukrainian r ...

. A 7–17 December 2013 opinion poll indicated that in a presidential election between

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

and Svoboda leader Tyahnybok Tyahnybok would win 28.8 percent of the popular vote to Yanukovych's 27.1 percent. Svoboda participates in the ongoing pro-European Union protest campaign to influence regime change and integration with the EU. When the

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

monument in

was toppled during Euromaidan, MP Ihor Myroshnichenko accepted responsibility for the act on behalf of Svoboda. Eighteen Svoboda members were killed in the Euromaidan protests and the

In government (February–November 2014)

On 27 February 2014, the Yatsenyuk government was formed, including three Svoboda ministers: Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Sych, Agrarian Policy and Food Minister

Ihor Shvaika Ihor Oleksandrovych Shvaika (born 25 February 1976) is a right-wing Ukrainian politician and a former Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine. Shvaika was elected to the 7th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada during the 2012 parliamentary elec ...

and Environment and Natural Resources Minister Andriy Mokhnyk.Svoboda party members in Ukrainian government resign – Deputy Premier Sych
,

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(12 November 2014)Maidan nominates Yatseniuk for prime minister
,

(26 February 2014)
Ukrainian parliament endorses new cabinet
,

(27 February 2014) Party members were appointed governors of

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

(

Viktor Buhaychuk The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

on 2 March 2014),

Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...

( Oleh Syrotyuk on 2 March) and

Rivne Oblast Rivne Oblast (), also referred to as Rivnenshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The surface area of the region is . Its population is: Before its annexation by the ...

s ( Sergey Rybachka on 3 March 2014).
On 18 March 2014, Svoboda members posted an online video of party MPs beating acting

National Television Company of Ukraine National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

president

Oleksandr Panteleymonov Oleksandr Yevhenovych Panteleymonov (; born 2 February 1978) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian editor and television producer. He was the acting CEO of the National Television Company of Ukraine from February 20, 2013, until March 25, 2014. On March 18, 201 ...

and trying to force him to sign a letter of resignation because he broadcast the Crimea accession to the Russian Federation ceremony in the Kremlin. In the video Panteleymonov's broadcast was called "state treason" by Svoboda MP Miroshnychenko, deputy head of the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information. Tyahnybok condemned the attack ("Such actions were fine yesterday (during the protests), but now they are inappropriate"), which was also condemned by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and acting prime minister

Arseniy Yatsenyuk Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk (born 22 May 1974) is a Ukrainian politician, economist and lawyer who served two terms as Prime Minister of Ukraine – from 27 February 2014 to 27 November 2014 and from 27 November 2014 to 14 April 2016. He was t ...

. On 20 March 2014, Svoboda withdrew as observers from the

(AENM) over sympathy by several alliance members for the Russian military intervention,"Свобода" і європейські націоналісти: конфлікти є, війни нема ''"Svoboda" and European nationalists: conflicts are not the war''
,

(24 January 2013)
Europe's Far Right Is Embracing Putin
,

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

(10 April 2014)
Oleh Tiahnybok withdraws Svoboda's membership within the Alliance of European National Movements
and in June the party formed the

Sich Battalion The Sich Battalion (), officially known as the 4th Sich Company of the Kyiv Regiment (), is a Ukraine, Ukrainian Special Tasks Patrol Police (Ukraine), special police battalion consisting of Ukrainian volunteer battalions (since 2014), volunteer ...

to fight in the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. The May

2014 Ukrainian presidential election Snap presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 25 May 2014 and resulted in Petro Poroshenko being elected President of Ukraine. Originally scheduled to take place on 29 March 2015, the date was brought forward following the 2014 Ukrainian ...

proved to be a defeat for Svoboda, whose candidate

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform of Vitali Klitschko (, using the acronym UDAR Vitali Klitschko () translates to "strike" or "punch", ) is a political party in Ukraine headed by retired Arseniy Yatseniuk Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk (born 22 May 1974) is a Ukrainian politician, economist and lawyer who served two terms as Prime Minister of Ukraine – from 27 February 2014 to 27 November 2014 and from 27 November 2014 to 14 April 2016. He was t ...

announced his resignation to the Verkhovna Rada a few hours later. On 25 July, newly elected President

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

dissolved the Verkhovna Rada and called snap elections in November.

2014 and 2019 elections: Losing support

In the October

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

, the party won six constituency seats; the party fell short by 0.29% to overcome the required 5% threshold to win seats on the nationwide list. The party's election results thus halved compared with the 2012 election because of negative assessments of the activities of the local governments that included Svoboda members. Svoboda won no constituencies in its former stronghold

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

. Its election outcome was also undermined by the fact that in this election the party was not the only one using radically patriotic,

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

and

anti-Russian Anti-Russian sentiment or Russophobia is the dislike or fear of Russia, Russian people, or Russian culture. The opposite of Russophobia is Russophilia. Historically, Russophobia has included state-sponsored and grassroots mistreatment and di ...

slogans. On 12 November 2014, the party's ministers in the Yatsenyuk Government resigned (they became

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

ministers until a new Government was formed). The parties governors of

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

and

also resigned and were formally dismissed by President

on 18 November 2014. In

West Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

, Svoboda improved its electoral performance in the October

2015 Ukrainian local elections On 25 October 2015 local elections took place in Ukraine. The elections were conducted a little over a year since the 2014 snap local elections, which were only held throughout parts of the country. A second round of voting for the election of ...

. In the elections its candidate Ruslan Martsinkiv was elected Mayor of

Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk (, ), formerly Stanyslaviv, Stanislav and Stanisławów, is a city in western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as well as Ivano-Frankivsk Raion within the oblast. Ivano-Frankivsk also host ...

. On 19 November 2018, Svoboda and fellow

Ukrainian nationalist Ukrainian nationalism (, ) is the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism emerge during the Cossack uprising against the Poli ...

political organizations

, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists,

and C14 endorsed

Ruslan Koshulynskyi Ruslan Volodymyrovych Koshulynskyi (; born 9 September 1969) is a Ukrainian politician, nationalist, soldier, and former People's Deputy of Ukraine who served as the 9th Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (2012–2014). He is also the Deputy Lea ...

candidacy in the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. As none of the 39 candidates on the ballot received an absolute majority of the initial vote, a runoff was held on 21 April between the top two vote-getters: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a t ...

. In the election he received 1.6% of the votes. In the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, the elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolved parli ...

, other parties joined Svoboda to form a united party list; the

Governmental Initiative of Yarosh Dmytro Anatoliiovych Yarosh (; born 30 September 1971) is a Ukrainian activist, politician, nationalist and military commander who is the main commander of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. From 2013 to 2015, he led the Right Sector nationalist o ...

and

National Corps The National Corps (), also known as the National Corps Party, a far-right political party in Ukraine, was founded in 2016 and then led by Andriy Biletsky. Biletsky had previously founded and led two far-right groups, the Patriot of Ukraine (200 ...

.Yarosh, Tyagnibok and Biletsky have all formed a single list for the elections (''Ярош, Тягнибок та Білецький таки сформували єдиний список на вибори'')
, Glavcom (9 June 2019) However, in the election, they won 2.15% of the votes, less than half of the 5% election threshold, and thus no parliamentary seats via the national party list. The party did win one constituency seat, in

.CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections
,

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(21 July 2019) Svoboda candidate Oksana Savchuk won the party's sole constituency seat with 46.68% of the votes in constituency 83. In the

2020 Ukrainian local elections The 2020 Ukrainian local elections took place on Sunday 25 October 2020.Ukrai ...

, Svoboda managed to secure first round re-election for their incumbent mayors in West Ukraine, in

(

Serhiy Nadal Serhiy Vitaliiovych Nadal (; born 1 January 1975) is a Ukrainian politician. He is the mayor of Ternopil and head of Ternopil urban hromada in western Ukraine. A member of the Svoboda party, Nadal has been mayor since 2010. Nadal's 2010 elect ...

Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi (, ) is a city in western Ukraine. Located on the Southern Bug, it serves as the administrative centre of Khmelnytskyi Oblast as well as Khmelnytskyi Raion within the oblast. With a population of Khmelnytskyi is the second-larges ...

( Oleksandr Symсhyshyn) and Ivano-Frankivsk (Ruslan Martsinkiv), but again failed at expanding its support base into other parts of the country. 863 people won seats in local councils on behalf of the party, that is about 2.61% of the available seats.The CEC showed the top 10 parties that won the most seats in the election
,

(18 November 2020) The election gave the party 19 mayors, making the party ninth in the number of elected mayors.

Political image

Ihor Kolomoyskyi Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi (; ; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli billionaire businessman, once considered the leading oligarch in Ukraine. Already an entrepreneur in the last years of Soviet Ukraine, in 2010 Kolomoyskyi w ...

, president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, stated in 2010 that the party has shifted from "ultranationalist closer to the center." However, the party have been involved in several actions against the country's minorities since then. In 2012, political scientist

predicted the party would continue to become more moderate over time, and that "there's a belief that Svoboda will change, once in the Verkhovna Rada, and that they may become proper national democrats." Since then, the party has gained seats in parliament and has net over 10% of the national vote in the 2012 parliamentary elections. The US ambassador in Kyiv, Geoffrey Pyatt, said in 2014 that he had been "positively impressed" by Svoboda's evolution in opposition and by its behavior in parliament. "They have demonstrated their democratic bona fides," the ambassador asserted. Alexander J. Motyl argues that Svoboda's brand of nationalism "has significantly diminished during, and possibly as a result of, the Euro Revolution." According to the party's website as of 2014, membership is restricted to those "who belong to the Ukrainian nation"; after its founding, atheists and former Communist party members were not eligible to join.. According to historian Per Anders Rudling, the party recruited skinheads and football hooligans following its founding in 1991. On 29 August 2013, Svoboda announced the opening of a representative office, at Rue de la Science/Wetenschapsstraat 14b in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, the same address as the 2012-founded European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. In 2014,

Per Anders Rudling Per Anders Rudling (born 11 April 1974 in Karlstad)The Algemeiner Per Anders Rudling.''The Algemeiner'' Jewish & Israel News. Articles by Per Anders Rudling. Retrieved 30 May 2014. is a Swedish-American historian In response to the Canadian-Ukrain ...

described Svoboda as a "neo-fascist" party, while Ivan Katchanovski disagreed.

In government

Former government officials

Ihor Tenyukh Ihor Yosypovych Tenyukh (; born 23 May 1958) is a former Ukrainian admiral and Svoboda party member. He was the commander of the Ukrainian Navy from 2006 until 2010 when dismissed by Viktor Yanukovych. Tenyukh fully supported the 2013–2014 u ...

– acting Minister of Defense (February–March 2014), resigned on own initiative, resignation accepted by parliament after repeated voting * Oleh Makhnitsky – acting General Prosecutor February–June 2014 (not part of the

Cabinet of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed on 18 April 1991, by the Law ...

, officially unaffiliated) On 12 November 2014, the party's ministers in the Yatsenyuk Government resigned (they became

ministers until a new Government was formed), they were: * Oleksandr Sych – Deputy Prime Minister * Andriy Mokhnyk – Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources *

– Minister of Agriculture

Paramilitary activities

With the failures of the

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

in the

, many former

activists and right-wing parties formed volunteer

militias A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or serve ...

and

paramilitary groups A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

to fight the separatists, they are known as the

Ukrainian volunteer battalions Ukrainian volunteer battalions (, more formally , or abbreviated ) were militias and Paramilitary, paramilitary groups mobilized as a response to the perceived state of weakness and unwillingness of the regular Armed Forces of Ukraine, Armed Forc ...

. In June 2014, Svoboda formed the "Sich" Battalion, with volunteers coming mostly from

. The Sich Battalion was placed under command of the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

and given official status of a "

Special Tasks Patrol Police The Special Police Forces () is a Ukrainian volunteer corps of law enforcement units, part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. History In April 2014, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov issued an order to create battali ...

". All volunteers were required to have a military background, and included former

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

veterans. The unit was designed for anti-terror operations since its inception. The unit was deployed to the regions around the city of

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

, mostly provided internal security and participated of combat operations around Marinka and

Avdiivka Avdiivka (, ; , ) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city is located in the centre of the oblast, just north of the regional centre, Donetsk. The large Avdiivka Coke Plant is located in Avdiivka. The city had a population of before th ...

. By 2015, the Ministry of Internal Affairs banned people registered in political parties of enlisting in their units. The Sich Battalion cut their official ties with Svoboda and was redesignated as the 4th Company "Sich" of the Kyiv Regiment, part of the

special police Special police usually describes a law enforcement agency or unit within a such an agency whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same nation, jurisdiction, or from other personnel within the same agen ...

of Kyiv.

Ideology

Svoboda's ideological base emanates from

leader

Yaroslav Stetsko Yaroslav Semenovych Stetsko (; 19 January 1912 – 5 July 1986) was a Ukrainian politician, writer and ideologist who served as the leader of Stepan Bandera's faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B, from 1941 until his ...

's "Two Revolutions" doctrine (written in 1951). The essence of this doctrine states: "the revolution will not end with the establishment of the Ukrainian state, but will go on to establish equal opportunities for all people to create and share material and spiritual values and in this respect the national revolution is also a social one".The Extreme Right in Ukraine
by Mridula Ghosh,

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as t ...

(October 2012) A crucial condition for joining Svoboda is that its members must belong to the Ukrainian

nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

. In the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

, the party favors resolving the conflict through use of force.

Nationalism

Svoboda is a party of

Ukrainian nationalism Ukrainian nationalism (, ) is the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism emerge during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, Cossack upri ...

and in 2011 was noted for favoring a solely presidential regime.Ukraine right-wing politics: is the genie out of the bottle?
,

openDemocracy.net openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage d ...

(3 January 2011) In 2013, however, the party pushed for constitutional reform which would limit the president's powers and return power to parliament. Party leader Tyahnybok has argued that "depicting

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

as extremism is a cliché rooted in

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and modern globalist

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

" and that "countries like modern

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

are fully nationalistic states, but nobody accuses the Japanese of being extremists." Tyahnybok defined nationalism as love of one's homeland and drew a distinction from

chauvinism Chauvinism ( ) is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. The ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' describes it ...

and fascism which he defined as the superiority of one nation over another. The party has often staged commemorations honouring Ukrainian nationalist leader

and the

(UPA). Bandera led the OUN-B wing of the

in its struggle against the Soviets and later the Germans during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to establish an independent Ukrainian state, but the UPA, established by OUN-B, also engaged in acts of ethnic cleansing including the

massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia The Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia (; ) were carried out in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), with the support of parts of the local Ukrainians, Ukrainian popu ...

.Norman Davies. (1996). ''Europe: a History''. Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Aleksander V. Prusin. ''Ethnic Cleansing: Poles from Western Ukraine''. In: Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen. Immigration and asylum: from 1900 to the present. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. 2005. pp. 204–205.
Timothy Snyder. ''The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999''. Yale University Press. 2003. pp. 169–170, 176
John Paul Himka
''Interventions: Challenging the Myths of Twentieth-Century Ukrainian History''
University of Alberta. 2011. p.4.
Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe. ''"The Ukrainian National Revolution" of 1941. Discourse and Practice of a Fascist Movement''. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. Vol. 12/No. 1 (Winter 2011). p. 83. In a 2011 march organized by Svoboda to celebrate the World War II-era Waffen-SS Galicia Division, participants shouted "one race, one nation, one Fatherland." The party views the dominating role of Ukraine's oligarchy as "devastating". While oligarchs have typically played a major role in the funding of other Ukrainian parties, Svoboda claims to receive no financial support from oligarchs, but rather from Ukraine's small and medium-sized businesses.

Anti-communism

Svoboda is known for its

stance, and several party activists over the years have been accused of trying to destroy Communist-era statues.Ukraine's Orange band loses its voice
,

()
Monument to Lenin was opened with scandal
,

UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

(27 November 2009)
Police detain two persons who threw bottle of paint at Lenin monument in Kyiv
, ''

'' (27 November 2009)
Svoboda activists questioned due to explosion of monument to Stalin
, ''

'' (3 January 2010)Події за темами: У Києві облили фарбою пам'ятник Леніну під час його відкриття після реставрації
,

(27 November 2009) On 16 February 2013, police in Ukraine opened a criminal case on charges of hooliganism against nationalist activists led by Svoboda Supreme Rada deputy Ihor Miroshnychenko for the dismantling of a statue of

Okhtyrka Okhtyrka (, ; ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Okhtyrka Raion within the oblast. Okhtyrka was once home to Hussars and Cossacks. It was also in the past a regional seat of the Sloboda Ukraine Imperia ...

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

. Miroshnychenko said: "There is no place for Communist symbols and ideology in European Ukraine and if the authorities cannot get rid of them, we will do it ourselves." According to police, Miroshnychenko climbed the statue and put a rope around Lenin's figure, which was then pulled down by a truck.

Social conservatism

Svoboda supports conservative values, and opposes abortion and

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

. In 2012,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

condemned Svoboda for disrupting a gay rights rally, called "a Sabbath of 50 perverts" in an official statement by Svoboda. Svoboda opposed legislation in 2013 that would have barred employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of their sexual orientation. Journalist David Stern describes the party as a "driving force" behind anti-gay politics in Ukraine, but states that many of its members may not share all its controversial positions. In April 2013, three Svoboda MPs sponsored a bill banning abortions except in cases involving severe pathology, a medical risk to a woman's life, and rape when proven in court. Future Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Sych, who has long opposed abortion, was one of the authors of the bill and responded to a question about what a pregnant woman should do if she failed to prove the rape in court by encouraging women to "lead the kind of lifestyle to avoid the risk of rape, including refraining from drinking alcohol and being in controversial company."

Neo-Nazism and political extremism

Svoboda has been described as an

and sometimes a

party by some journalists, organizations that monitor hate speech, Jewish organizations such as the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, and political opponents. In 2004, leader of Svoboda, Oleh Tyahnybok said that a "Muscovite-Jewish mafia" controls Ukraine and attacked in 2005 what he said is the "criminal activities of organized Jewry in Ukraine". Svoboda advisor Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn started a blog called "'Joseph Goebbels Political Research Centre" in 2005, later changing "

" to "

." Mykhalchyshyn wrote a book in 2010 citing works by Nazi theorists

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer, politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party. A close friend and early ally of Adolf Hitler, Röhm was the co-founder and leader of the (SA), t ...

Gregor Strasser Gregor Strasser (also , see ß; 31 May 1892 – 30 June 1934) was a German politician and early leader of the Nazi Party. Along with his younger brother Otto, he was a leading member of the party's left-wing faction, which brought them into ...

and Goebbels.International Business Times
, ''Svoboda: The Rising Spectre Of Neo-Nazism In The Ukraine'', 27 December 2012. Elsewhere Mykhalchyshyn referred to

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

as a "period of Light in history". According to ''

Segodnya ''Segodnya'' ( rus, Сегодня, p=sʲɪˈvodʲnʲə, t=Today, a=Ru-сегодня.ogg) was a Russian language, Russian-language Ukrainian tabloid newspaper founded in 1997. The newspaper ceased printing in 2019. Affiliations While run from ...

'', the party's 2011 congress was addressed by , the leader of the band Komu Vnyz, who describes himself as a "selective anti-Semite" and who allegedly gave a Nazi-style salute (which a fellow band member described as a

roman salute The Roman salute, also known as the Fascist salute, is a gesture in which the right arm is fully extended, facing forward, with palm down and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held out pa ...

rather than a Nazi gesture). In 2009, due to Svoboda's efforts, the proposal to build a statue of the Romanian Marshal

Alexandru Averescu Alexandru Averescu (; 9 March 1859 – 2 October 1938) was a Romanian marshal, diplomat and Populism, populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as List of Prime Ministers of Romania, Prime Minister of thr ...

in , in southern Ukraine (his native village), was rejected. In December 2012, the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

expressed concern regarding Svoboda's growing support, recalling "that racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU's fundamental values and principles," and appealed "to pro-democratic parties in the

not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with" Svoboda.13/12/2012 Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
,

(13 December 2012) Party leader

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

agents working through a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n socialist MP". Referencing a similar resolution made by the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...

, Tyahnybok claimed it to be a result of a mud-slinging campaign by political opponents, stating: "When we did not have a parliamentary faction or normal channels for contacting influential groups in the European Union, a very negative image of Svoboda was created and in an extremely crude fashion." However, after speaking to European MP's he stated they "admitted that they had received completely different information about us." Tyahnybok furthermore stated that "spin doctors who are working against Svoboda" cover up the non-controversial points in the party's election programme "by promoting some clearly secondary issues through mass media outlets controlled by pro-government forces".Oleh Tyahnybok: "The three opposition parties should not be required to act completely in sync"
,

The Ukrainian Week ''The Ukrainian Week'' (, ) is an illustrated weekly magazine and news outlet covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides a range of analysis, opinion, interviews, feature p ...

(31 March 2013) During a Party of Regions rally in Kyiv to counter the ongoing

protests, MP Olena Bondarenko called Tyahnybok a "traitor" and one "who helps the Kremlin and Moscow." Her words were altered to read on her party's website that he was instead a "Nazi" and that "Nazis are not just disrespected, they are outlawed in Europe and throughout the civilized world". Svoboda members have denied the party is antisemitic.
Ukrainian party picks xenophobic candidate
,

Jewish Telegraphic Agency The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service that primarily covers Judaism- and Jewish-related topics and news. Described as the "Associated Press of the Jewish media", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish news ...

(25 May 2009)
Tiahnybok denies anti-Semitism in Svoboda
,

(27 December 2012) Party leader Tyahnybok stated in November 2012 "Svoboda is not an anti-Semitic party, Svoboda is not a xenophobic party. Svoboda is not an anti-Russian party. Svoboda is not an anti-European party. Svoboda is simply and only a pro-Ukrainian party". In defense of these accusations, Tyahnybok has stated "I have repeatedly said that Svoboda is not an anti-Semitic organization. If you have any comments on our views, go to court. But nobody will, because everyone understands that even biased Ukrainian courts cannot pass any sentence against Svoboda because we do not violate Ukrainian laws." Tyahnybok says a criminal case was opened against him for promoting racial rights, but he managed to win all the court cases and protect his name.

In media

According to ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' in 2014, "anti-Semitism is part of the extremist party's platform," which rejects certain minority and human rights. The paper reported that in 2013 a Svoboda youth leader distributed Nazi propaganda written by Joseph Goebbels. According to the ''

Algemeiner Journal The ''Algemeiner Journal'', known informally as ''The Algemeiner'', is a newspaper based in New York City that covers American and international Jewish and Israel-related news. It is widely read by Hasidic Jews. History Gershon Jacobson, a ...

'' in 2013, "Svoboda supporters include among their heroes leaders of pro-Nazi World War II organizations known for their atrocities against Jews and

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, such as the

(OUN), the

(UPA), and the 14th Waffen-SS Galicia Division." Prominent Ukrainian journalist and president of TVi Channel Vitaly Portnikov defended Svoboda against criticism, as he noted he is often questioned for supporting party leader Oleh Tyahnybok despite himself being Jewish. Portnikov said, "I tand with themwith great pleasure, because Oleh wants Ukraine to be part of the European Union" and that "presently Svoboda is acting in a very decent way, and I see no problem there. Right-wing parties function in every European country." Ukrainian media associated with the

, the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 and claimed to be the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991. In 2002 it held a "unifi ...

, and Russophile groups contributed to a trend of characterizing Svoboda as a "Nazi menace." Political analyst Olszański argued that voters from southern or eastern Ukraine, especially those who are poor, less educated, or attached to a "Soviet historical narrative," are hostile to

, easily convinced that Svoboda is the modern analog of the Nazi invaders, and further that the Party of Regions is the only force capable of stopping a ' brown revenge'. According to political scientist

Taras Kuzio Taras Kuzio is a Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( Kyiv, Ukraine). His area of study is Russian and Ukrainian political, economic and security affairs. Education Taras Kuzio is of Ukrainian de ...

, the label "nationalist" is "disastrous" in Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine and used as an epithet by political opponents.

Statements by political scientists

Political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański wrote in 2011 that the social-nationalist ideology which Svoboda formerly adhered to included "openly racist rhetoric" concerning 'white supremacy' following its establishment in 1991, and that comparisons with Nazism have been legitimized by its history. David Fishman said in 2015 that there are people in Svoboda who "embrace tepanBandera's fascist and anti-Semitic legacy".

, a political scientist at the

, has asserted in 2010 that "Svoboda was a racist party promoting explicitly ethnocentric and anti-Semitic ideas". He also believes that internally, Svoboda "is much more radical and xenophobic than what we see". However, Umland also stated in 2012 that he believes the party will continue to become more moderate over time, stating that "there's a belief that Svoboda will change, once in the Verkhovna Rada, and that they may become proper national democrats". Olexiy Haran, a political science professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, said in 2014 "There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding Svoboda" and that the party is not fascist, but radical. Alexander J. Motyl contended in 2014 that Svoboda is not fascist, neither in behaviour or in ideology, and that "they are far more like the

Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event, typically held in the afternoon, featuring the consumption of tea and light refreshments. Social tea drinking rituals are observed in many cultures worldwide, both historically and in the present day. A ...

or right-wing

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

than like fascists or neo-Nazis." According to Anton Shekhovtsov in 2014, an expert on radical parties in Europe, "The main peculiarity of the Ukrainian far right is that its main enemy is not immigrants or

national minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

, as often happens with the EU- based far right, but the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

Statements by Jewish organizations

Thirty members of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

condemned the party in a signed letter addressed to the President of the European Parliament. In the letter the Israeli politicians accused Svoboda of "openly glorifying Nazi murder" and "Nazi war criminals". In May 2013 the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress's main purpose is to act as ...

labelled the party as "

" and called for European governments to ban them. The Anti-Defamation League has referred to Svoboda as an ultranationalist party with a "history of anti-Semitism and platform of ethnic nationalism". Ukraine's chief rabbi Yaakov Bleich said "Svoboda is an enigma in many ways," calling it "a right-wing, nationalist party with anti-Semitic elements in it." Vyacheslav A. Likhachev of the Eurasian Jewish Congress, said that the "party has a very anti-Semitic core in its ideology," and that it leads to "symbolic legitimization of neo-Nazis and anti-Semitic ideology in the eyes of society." Member of parliament from the pro-presidential Party of Regions and president of the Jewish Committee of Ukraine,

Oleksandr Feldman Olexandr Borysovych Feldman () (born January 6, 1960, Kharkiv) is a Ukrainian politician and public figure of Jewish origin, People's Deputy of Ukraine (since 2002), businessman, multi-millionaire. He is considered to be one of the most influential ...

, criticized Svoboda as a "party which is notorious for regularly injecting anti-Semitism into their speeches and public pronouncements" and accused the party of "rallying behind this recognition and exploited mistrust of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

to gain popularity among some in the lower class who painfully welcomed the chance to be a part of campaigns of hate". Feldman also writes that Svoboda has helped erode the shame associated with open expressions of anti-Semitism and other ethnic hatreds. Feldman has been an advocate for the Party of Regions and president

, reportedly also funding the latter's public relations firm. During the

protests, Feldman said the protests had degenerated into "ultra-nationalism and anti-Semitism," and called for opposition leaders Arseniy Yatseniuk and Vitali Klitschko to distance themselves from Svoboda. Four groups, including the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, said they have seen no upsurge in antisemitic attacks. "We call on Ukrainian citizens and foreign observers to remain calm and critically assess the panic-mongering statements in the media regarding anti-Semitism in the country," the groups said in a statement on the website of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. In 2012, international human rights organization the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

placed Svoboda party leader Oleg Tyahnybok fifth in its list of the top 10 antisemites and haters of Israel, based on his previous comments regarding Jews in Ukraine.

Platform

Party leader

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party.Azarov Government and the presidency of

colonial administration", referencing Svoboda's opposition to perceived Russian influences in Ukrainian politics. Before the

2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 28 October 2012.Parli ...

, most of the radical points which were present on the Svoboda's original party platform vanished from the official election program that Svoboda filed with the

. In its place, a tamer, populist program focused on the impeachment of President

and the renunciation of the 2010 Kharkiv agreements that let

Black Sea Fleet The Black Sea Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, are subordin ...

stay in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

through 2042 was used. In its campaign for the

2008 Kyiv local election Snap mayoral and city council elections were held in Kyiv on 25 May 2008. The election, originally scheduled to be held alongside nationwide 2010 Ukrainian local elections, 2010 local elections, was called by the Verkhovna Rada by a 246–5 vote ...

s the party also used less ethnic nationalist terms and it relied more on a strong anti-establishment, populist and anti-

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

rhetoric.

Svoboda's platform is called "Our Own Authorities, Our Own Property, Our Own Dignity, on Our Own God-Given Land." and includes the following points: * Ukraine—a

presidential republic A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

is the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

Lustration Lustration in Central and Eastern Europe is the official public procedure of scrutinizing a public official or a candidate for public office in terms of their history as a witting confidential collaborator (informant) of relevant former commun ...

of state authority: publication of lists of all Soviet

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

agents that served or continue to serve in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, dismissal of such people as well as members of the former

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

from state leadership positions, replace them with graduates of the Ukrainian universities * Criminal prosecution for "

Ukrainophobia Anti-Ukrainian sentiment (), Ukrainophobia () or anti-Ukrainianism () is animosity towards Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture, the Ukrainian language, Ukraine as a nation, or all of the above.Andriy Okara. Ukrainophobia is a gnostic problem.n18texts O ...

" * Only those born in Ukraine can become Ukrainian citizens, with the exceptions for those who have lived in Ukraine for more than 15 years, know the

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

Ukrainian Constitution The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...

* Renunciation of the 2010 Kharkiv agreements
Rada fails to support bill on denunciation of Kharkiv accords on Black Sea Fleet basing in Ukraine
,

(19 June 2013) * Impeachment of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

* Ban on abortion, except in cases of medical necessity, or rape;Svoboda MPs propose legislatively banning abortions in Ukraine
,

(8 April 2013) and imprisonment from three to seven years for those who violate this ban * Criminalization of public promotion of abortions or calls for abortions (by introducing a fine for doing so) * The

right to keep and bear arms The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for Self-defense#Armed, self ...

Euromaidan in Khmelnytskyi 20140124 163608

* Cancelling taxes on Ukrainian language products—

films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

—and instead imposing taxes on non-Ukrainian language products. The proceeds obtained this way will be channeled into developing Ukrainian language products * Nationalization of major enterprises, greater state control of the banking system and a ban on privatization of land * Energy independence for Ukraine * The development of competitive industries, particularly food processing and aircraft engineering, shipbuilding, machine-tool construction, machine manufacturing, the

military–industrial complex The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the Arms industry, defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving fac ...

and the aerospace industry * Ban on the import of the food products that are also produced inside Ukraine and import only exotic food that is not domestically grown * The restoration of the Soviet practice of indicating ethnic origin on passports and birth certificates * Proportional representation on executive bodies of

ethnic Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the second largest ethno-linguistic community. At around 46 million worldwide, Ukr ...

, on the one hand, and

, on the other * Ban on adoptions by non-Ukrainians of Ukrainian children * Preferential treatment for Ukrainian students in the allocation of dormitory places, and a series of similar changes to existing legal provisions *

Ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

persons should have no right to be elected to state authorities or local self-government authoritiesTiahnybok: Priests on Lists of Svoboda Party Are to Counterbalance 'Moscow Priests' on Lists of Opponents
, Religious Information Service of Ukraine (19 October 2010) * Abolition of Crimean autonomy * Abolition of

value added tax A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

* Farmlands are to be state-owned and given to farmers in

hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

use * The state is to implement a firm pro-family policy Ternopil-Vstavai-UA-13037204

* Dismissal of employees of state structures who had been active in the Soviet apparatus before 1991 *

Decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

of public space (monuments, names of streets and places) *

should apologize "for its communist crimes" * Ukraine is to leave the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

"and other

post-Soviet The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

structures" * An explicit guarantee of accession to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

within a set period of time * Ukraine should again re-acquire

tactical nuclear weapon A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...

ry Svoboda also states in its programme that it is both possible and necessary to make Ukraine the "

geopolitical Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of states: ''de facto'' independen ...

centre of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

". The

is not mentioned in the programme. According to Party leader

Oleh Tyahnybok Oleh Yaroslavovych Tyahnybok (, born 7 November 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and far-right activist who is the leader of the Svoboda political party. Member of parliament Ihor Miroshnychenko asked the head of the

Kyiv City State Administration Kyiv City State Administration (, commonly abbreviated as KMDA ) is the national-level branch of the Government of Ukraine that administers Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The current Head of the Kyiv City State Administration is Vitali Klitschko; ...

Oleksandr Popov Oleksandr Pavlovych Popov (; born 22 November 1960) is a Ukrainian politician, businessman, former head of the Kyiv City State Administration. Biography He graduated Tyumen Civil Engineering Institute and Higher School of the KGB in Kyiv. From ...

on 7 March 2013 to ban a march that was held the next day because he believed it would "contribute to promoting sexual orientation" and he further stated in his request "

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

provokes sexually transmitted diseases and

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

". The 8 March rally was in fact not an LGBT march but organized by feminist organizations.

Language

In late January 2013, Svoboda urged Ukrainians to boycott revised Ukrainian history textbooks and to give up the teaching of the

in school, calling Ukrainians "to categorically refuse to study in school the language of the occupier – Russian, as a further reliable means of the assimilation of Ukrainians". On 23 February 2014 following the

, Svoboda supported legislation abolishing the law on regional languages making Ukrainian the sole state language at all levels. This proposal was vetoed by acting President

Oleksandr Turchynov Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov (, ; born 31 March 1964) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian politician, screenwriter, Baptists in Ukraine, Baptist minister and economist. He is the former Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukra ...

Party leaders

Election results

Verkhovna Rada

Presidential elections

Change in party voting

File:Свобода - 2006 Eng version.png, 2006 parliamentary File:Свобода — 2007 Eng version.png, 2007 parliamentary File:Олег Тягнибок 2010 Eng version.PNG, 2010 (January — presidential) for Tyahnybok File:Svoboda 2010 Eng version.png, 2010 (October, local election) File:Svoboda-2012.png, 2012 parliamentary File:Результати виборів до ВР України 2014 (Політична партія Всеукраїнське об’єднання Свобода).png, 2014 parliamentary File:Svoboda-2019 %.png, 2019 parliamentary

Notes

References

Literature

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External links

* *
Svoboda's candidates elected at 2012 parliamentary elections
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Svoboda 1995 establishments in Ukraine Anti-communism in Ukraine Anti-communist parties Conservative parties in Ukraine Euromaidan Far-right political parties in Ukraine Nationalist parties in Ukraine Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Ukraine Parliamentary factions in Ukraine Political parties established in 1995 Right-wing populism in Ukraine Right-wing populist parties Social conservative parties Anti-Russian sentiment in Europe National conservative parties Right-wing parties in Europe Ultranationalist parties