You're reading: Ukrainian nationalists demand ban of Communist symbols

The All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" insists on a judicial ban of Communist symbols in Ukraine and the October 14 date to be declared as the Day of the formation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).

These are the theses contained in Svoboda’s election manifesto
approved at a party congress on Wednesday, the party spokesperson said.

“To declare OUN-UPA (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists/Ukrainian
Insurgent Army) soldiers as participants of the national liberation
fight for Ukraine’s national independence. To allocate due benefits to
OUN-UPA veterans and compensate for those not paid during the
Independence years. To declare October 14, the day of the UPA formation,
as a national holiday,” according to the manifesto.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) should declassify all records
of the Soviet secret police and KGB, kept at the SBU central and
regional archives, Svoboda said.

Other manifesto proposals include the lustration. “To remove from
power KGB agents and public servants who held managing positions in the
Soviet Communist Party,” the manifesto said.

The party has called for regional and local administrations to be
closed and their executive powers to be delegated to local councils.

Svoboda supports the formation of a powerful middle class and social
protection instead of the “dominance of oligarchs and the plundering of
our country,” the document said.

“Among the key objectives is to ban privatization of strategic
enterprises and re-nationalize those privatized earlier, to guarantee
the state control over natural monopolies and close private monopolies
and oligopolies,” the manifesto said.