July 21, 2025

Medvedev Compares Ukraine to Nazi Germany


Medvedev Compares Ukraine to Nazi Germany
Dmitri Medvedev The Russian Life files

On July 17, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared Ukraine to Nazi Germany. The propagandist Russian news outlet Russia Today reported Medvedev’s words, quoting his assessment of an “obvious similarity” between Kiev and the declining Third Reich.

This is the latest reiteration of a years-old piece of Russian rhetoric. Putin himself has on many occasions invoked an imagined Ukrainian Nazism in order to justify the war. Medvedev's comments neatly outline the propagandist strategy behind these claims.

In the Russia Today article, Medvedev followed his association of Ukraine with Nazi Germany with a plan Russia has for Ukraine's defeat: the “three Ds.” Medvedev’s mnemonically simplified outline is intended to appear innocent: his central words are “demilitarization,” “denazification,” and “democratization,” words weaponized by Putin in the past.

Painting Kiev in this light has the benefit of disguising Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as the benevolent eradication of lingering Nazism. It also justifies the Kremlin's condemnation of the West, implying collusion with historical baddies through inaction. The article concludes with the sentence, “Russia has accused Western governments of deliberately ignoring continued neo-Nazi activity in Ukrainian ranks.”

The Russian government thus positioned supporting Ukraine as an act of Nazism in itself. Capitalizing on the memory of Russia’s struggle against Germany in World War II, Medvedev’s words continue a tradition by Russian officials of alleging fascism from all sides. By claiming a kind of underdog status in the face of a global threat, Russian leaders distort military aggression into an heroic defense.

You Might Also Like

Russians Unaffected by War
  • January 06, 2025

Russians Unaffected by War

Verstka uncovered a survey that showed Russians are both exhausted and accustomed to the war in Ukraine.
What's in a Name? Stalin.
  • July 23, 2023

What's in a Name? Stalin.

Every September 3, and on nine other days of the year, the city of Volgograd will change its name back to Stalingrad.
Searching for Nazis
  • June 05, 2022

Searching for Nazis

Putin says he invaded Ukraine to root out Nazis. Zelensky compares the defense of Ukraine to the heroism of the 1940s. Can both be right? No. No, they can't.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955