Russia takes chance to brand Canada’s politicians ‘outrageous’ after they gave standing ovation to Nazi who was member of Hitler’s feared SS

The Kremlin said on Monday it was ‘outrageous’ that a Ukrainian man who served in one of Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS units during World War Two had been presented to Canada’s parliament last week as a hero.

Yaroslav Hunka, 98, received two standing ovations from Canadian lawmakers during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Canadian parliament speaker Anthony Rota introduced Hunka as ‘a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians’ and ‘a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero.’

The speaker of Canada’s parliament later hastily issued an apology and insisted he had no idea of Hunka’s past Nazi associations. 

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the episode showed a careless disregard for historical truth, and that the memory of Nazi crimes must be preserved.

‘Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous,’ Peskov told reporters. ‘Many Western countries, including Canada, have raised a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War. And they know nothing about the threat of fascism.’

The speaker of Canada ‘s House of Commons Anthony Rota had hailed 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka (above) as ‘a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians’ and ‘a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero’ 

After Zelensky delivered an address in the House of Commons on Friday, Canadian lawmakers gave the Hunka a standing ovation – after Rota drew attention to the senior by hailing him as both a ‘Canadian [and] Ukranian hero’

Yaroslav Hunka waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons in Ottawa Friday. Right: Hunka in his SS unit in the war

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous’

The episode plays into the narrative promoted by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he sent his army into Ukraine last year to ‘demilitarise and denazify’ the country

During World War Two, when Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, some Ukrainian nationalists joined Nazi units because they saw the Germans as liberators from Soviet oppression.

Hunka served in World War Two as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, according to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group that demanded and received an apology from Rota.

The episode plays into the narrative promoted by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he sent his army into Ukraine last year to ‘demilitarise and denazify’ the country, a European democracy whose Jewish president lost family members in the Holocaust.

At a televised meeting with historians this month, Putin stressed the part that ‘local nationalists and anti-Semites’ had played in the murder of 1.5 million Jews in Ukraine during the Holocaust and said ‘this has a direct relation to the present day’.

Peskov told reporters that Russia was waging an ‘irreconcilable fight’ against fascism that was ‘trying to find its feet in the centre of Europe, in Ukraine’.

After Rota had praised Hunka, Canadian lawmakers cheered and Zelensky, who is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust, raised his fist in acknowledgement as the veteran saluted from the gallery.

Both Zelensky and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau took part in the subsequent standing ovations. 

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center said on Sunday that that Rota’s remarks ignore ‘the horrific fact that Hunka served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well-documented.’ 

They added: ‘An apology is owed to every Holocaust survivor and veteran of the Second World War who fought the Nazis, and an explanation must be provided as to how this individual entered the hallowed halls of Canadian Parliament and received recognition from the Speaker of the House and a standing ovation.’

Rota, a Liberal MP, apologized on Sunday, saying that he had ‘subsequently become aware of more information’ which caused him to ‘regret’ his recognition of Hunka

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Canada came as part of the two country’s continued alliance against Russia, and after he secured year another multimillion-dollar aide package from the US

Members of Parliament from all parties rose to applaud Hunka. A spokesperson for the Conservative party said the party was not aware of his history at the time

Rota, 62, said in his statement yesterday: ‘In my remarks following the address of the President of Ukraine, I recognized an individual in the gallery.

‘I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so.’ He went on to insist that it was his idea to honor Hunka.

‘This initiative was entirely my own … I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world,’ he said. 

Hunka, who lives in North Bay, Ontario, fought against the Red Army on the Eastern Front. 

In an online blog written more than a decade ago, Hunka described the period between 1941 and 1943 as the happiest of his life.

The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS – also known as the 1st Galician – was mostly made up of Ukrainian volunteers.

It was formed in 1943 and saw action on the Eastern Front. Its primary role was to support German forces in their fight against the Soviet Union.

In his address to them, Himmler said: ‘Your homeland has become more beautiful since you have lost – on our initiative, I must say – the residents who were so often a dirty blemish on Galicia’s good name – namely the Jews, I know that if I ordered you to liquidate the Poles, I would be giving you permission to do what you are eager to do anyway.’ 

On the 78th anniversary of the division’s formation in 2021, hundreds of Ukrainians took part in a parade in Kyiv. 

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre claimed the division was responsible ‘for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable.’

Speaking of Rota’s apology, a statement issued on behalf of Mr Trudeau said: ‘This was the right thing to do.

‘No advance notice was provided to the Prime Minister’s Office, nor the Ukrainian delegation, about the invitation or the recognition,’ the prime minister’s team said.

The Ukrainian president had been in Ottawa to bolster even more support from Western allies for his country’s war against Russia.