Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists

History

The party was set up late 1992 by émigrés of OUN-B on the initiative of Slava Stetsko and Roman Zvarych. It was registered on 26 January 1993 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice and was the 11th political party in Ukraine that was officially registered.

During the 1998 parliamentary election the party was part (together with Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party and Ukrainian Republican Party) of the Election Bloc "National Front" (Ukrainian: Виборчий блок партій «Національний фронт») which won 2,71% of the national votes and 6 (single-mandate constituency) seats.

At the parliamentary elections on 30 March 2002, the party was part of the Viktor Yushchenko Bloc Our Ukraine. Former party leader Oleksiy Ivchenko was the head of Naftogas of Ukraine under the Yekhanurov Government. He was elected as the party leader on the seventh convention of the party on April 13, 2003.

During the parliamentary elections on 26 March 2006, the party was part of the Our Ukraine alliance. Roman Zvarych was Minister of Justice in the First Tymoshenko Government and Second Tymoshenko Government and in the Alliance of National Unity.

At the end of 2006, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine’s Office opened a criminal case against party leader Oleksii Ivchenko on charges of embezzlement and abuse of his official position as former head of Naftogaz. Ivchenko was dropped from its party ticket in the spring of 2007. The party refused to join the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc in August 2007 and almost a month before the elections decided not to run in the 2007 parliamentary elections.

In the 2010 local elections the party biggest achievement was winning two seats in the Lviv Oblast Counsel. In December 2011 Stepan Bratsiun was elected party leader.

The party competed on one single party under "umbrella" party Our Ukraine in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, together with Ukrainian People's Party; this list won 1.11% of the national votes and no constituencies and thus failed to win parliamentary representation. The party itself had competed in 28 constituencies and lost in all.

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party was electable on a nationwide list and it the participated in 8 constituencies; but its candidates lost in all of them and the party received only 0.05% of the votes nationwide and thus the party won no parliamentary seats.

Ideology

The party supports democratic nationalism and a strong nation state independent from Russia.

Relation with Jews

In their fight against "cosmopolitanism", party members have in the past espoused in what was seen as anti-Semitic views. In 2005 the official organ of the party, newspaper "The Nation and Power", published an article which said: "The titular nation in Ukraine (ethnic Ukrainians) will disappear in 2006.... After the 2006 election, Ukrainians will dance around the Jews.". In his speech at the opening of the Holodomor Memorial in November 2007, the Head of the party in Zaporizhia Oblast Tymchina stated: "Our time has come, and the Dnieper will soon be red with the blood of Kikes (slur for Jews) and Moskals (slur for Russians)." The Kommersant newspaper on 26 January 2010 quoted the head of the Kiev city organization Yuri Shepetyuk saying: "There is no anti-Semitism in Ukraine. The Jews themselves organize various provocations, and then talk about the persecution in their address, to get even more funding from abroad". Kommersant notes: "However, he (Yuri Shepetyuk) did not specify what provocations were staged in Ukraine by representatives of the Jewish community."

However, as of recently the official website the party appears to express support for Zionism and Israel (although not the Israeli government, for prosecuting Demjanjuk), and regards Ze'ev Jabotinsky as a hero, as it features articles by Moysey Fishbein as well as a few other articles, although the party does defend alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk; who they believe is wrongly accused. It would seem as though most anti-semitism has been removed from the party in light of the new support for Israel.

Goals

Symbols

The flag of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists is a rectangular two-color banner with two horizontal halves. The upper half is red and the bottom half is black. It is inspired by the flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. There emblem is based on that of the former Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The red background circle is in-framed by the black (outside) and gold (inside) line with a cross which is placed in the middle and appears to be as a sword. The sword, being aimed blade down, has a dual meaning: the organization in its activities is guided by the principles of Christian morality and the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists is ready to protect the Ukrainian State.

Motto

Glory to Ukraine! To Heroes (her) Glory! Other versions include, but not limited to Glory to free Ukraine! To Heroes (her) Glory!