Ukraine should have the right to arm itself again with nuclear weapons, according to a joint manifesto signed by three of the country’s nationalist parties on March 16 in Kyiv.
The “National Manifesto” signed by Svoboda, Right Sector and National Corps – none of whom have any representation in parliament – calls for cooperation among the three to “fight for the prosperity of Ukraine as a powerful nation state.”
Ukraine, which once had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, gave up the weapons in 1994 in exchange for security assurances from the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia under the Budapest Memorandum.
The nationalists’ manifesto also includes reorienting Ukraine from the West and creating “a new European Union with the Baltic States.”
They also said that Russian capital and businesses would be banned, and that “traditional values” should be promoted in the mass media.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Svoboda Party leader Oleh Tiahnybok slammed Ukraine’s current leadership for failing to “defend the interests of the Ukrainian nation.”
“We saw that the democrats, liberals, and socialists … make shady deals, and do anything but stand for the interests of the masters of this land. Only nationalists, when they have the full power and authority, can develop the state in favor of all Ukrainians,” he said.
National Corps activists burn flares as they came to the Sberbank to close it with a brick wall in order for Sberbank to stop its activity in Ukraine during their rally on March 13. (2017) (Volodymyr Petrov)
However, Svoboda, Right Sector, and National Corps have no plans to unite into one organization or political party, Artem Skoropadsky, the spokesperson for Right Sector told the Kyiv Post on March 17.
Moreover, the radical nationalists frequently have different views and adopt differing positions on a variety of issues.
“The creation of a so-called nationalist bloc is nothing more than political PR,” Skoropadsky said. “Participation in elections is not our goal. We aim to take overall control and create a nation state.”
Tiahnybok described the manifesto as more of a “coordination of efforts.”
Nationalist and far-right groups in Ukraine have some of the lowest levels of support in Europe. At the local elections in October 2015, Svoboda gained 6.8 percent nationally, while the Right Sector Party polled less than 1 percent.
Svoboda had been a more powerful political force during the rule of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych rule. In the 2012 parliamentary election the party won more than 10 percent of votes and took 38 seats in parliament.
But in the 2014 parliamentary election, following the EuroMaidan Revolution, the Svoboda Party got only 4.2 percent of the vote nationally, failing to pass the 5 percent electoral threshold to win party list seats in parliament. It won seven seats in the Rada in constituency votes.
The National Corps has yet to participate in any general elections, only having formed as a political party in October 2016.
