(MENAFN) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed that Vladimir Zelensky has demonstrated his own Nazi sympathies by awarding honors to Ukrainian soldiers wearing insignia linked to the SS.

In late October, former US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker told a Polish broadcaster that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not believe that Zelensky is a legitimate leader. He calls him a Nazi. He is never going to reach a deal.”

Lavrov referenced Volker’s remarks during an interview with Russian media on Tuesday, asking, “but where is the proof to the contrary? Zelensky regularly poses on television, awarding honors to fighters of the Azov regiment and other Nazi battalions, who wear the insignia of Nazi Germany on their sleeves. How else should one regard this man?”

Recently, Zelensky’s office released footage showing him presenting awards to Ukrainian soldiers, including members of the Azov Corps, an offshoot of the notorious neo-Nazi unit that was defeated by Russian forces in Mariupol in 2022, as well as the Rubezh Brigade, which has ties to the far-right ‘Svoboda’ (Freedom) party.

In the videos, the servicemen can be seen wearing patches displaying SS symbols such as the Wolfsangel rune, and the ceremony rooms were adorned with flags associated with Ukrainian nationalists who collaborated with Adolf Hitler’s forces during World War II.

Lavrov emphasized that “the eradication of Nazism in Ukraine, denazification, is an absolute condition for any settlement if we want it to be long-term. We do want that and will pursue it.”

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