Russian officials, media, and VK spread disinfo over Ukraine’s football uniform
Tags: Russia, Sports, Ukraine, Social Media, Crimea

By Eto Buziashvili

Ukraine’s new national football kit featuring a map of Ukraine that includes Russian-annexed Crimea and a widely used Ukrainian slogan caused another wave of disinformation about the peninsula. Russian officials seized the opportunity to recycle long-circulated narratives over Ukraine, portraying the latter as “Nazi” and justifying the illegal annexation of Crimea. The narratives immediately started circulating on Russian media and the social network VK, accusing Ukraine of Russophobia as well.

The UEFA Euro 2021 football championship tournament runs from June 11 to July 11, 2021. Ukraine’s football association revealed Euro 2020 uniforms on June 6, 2021, days before the start of the European Championship. The shirts feature the map of Ukraine, including Russia-annexed Crimea. The shirts also included the slogan Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava! (“Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!”), a chant that dates back to the Ukranian independence movement of the 1920s and enjoyed renewed popularity during the 2014 Euromaidan street protests.

The Union of European Football Associations, Europe’s football governing body, told the BBC that the Ukrainian shirt “has been approved by UEFA, in accordance with the applicable equipment regulations.” According to UEFA kit regulations, elements must not “offend common decency or transmit political, religious or racial messages.”

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 — a move that a majority of the international community considered illegal. Kremlin officials and actors have been spreading various disinformation narratives around the topic ever since.

Russian officials: slogan is a Nazi rallying cry

According to the EU Neighbours portal, at least 200 disinformation cases have been documented in which the Kremlin and pro-Kremlin actors have associated Ukraine or Ukrainians with Nazis or fascists.

Following the reveal of Ukraine’s new football kit, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that Ukraine is echoing a German Nazi rallying cry by featuring Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava! on their national team shirts. According to Zakharova, Ukraine is creating the “illusion of the impossible” by “attaching Ukraine’s territory to Russian Crimea.”

Russian parliamentary deputy Dmitry Svishchev labeled the shirt design “a political provocation,” and claimed that a map of Ukraine “which includes a Russian territory is illegal.”

The chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Information Policy Alexei Pushkov stated that Ukraine featuring the outline of Crimea on its shirts is an “empty ploy.”

Meanwhile, Russian lawyer Igor Bushmanov warned that if the new shirt is worn by a Russian citizen, they first will be brought to administrative proceedings, and if they wear the shirt again, they will face criminal proceedings. According to Bushmanov, “public calls for the implementation of activities aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation” might be assessed as separatism.

Russian outlets react

After the statements made by Russian officials, the Russian online outlets have started circulating narratives about Ukraine being “Nazi” and comparing Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava! to the Nazi salute, sieg heil. They have also claimed that under this slogan, “soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are fighting with civilians in Donbas,” the eastern part of Ukraine.