In late 2015, Patriot of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Патріот України, romanized: Patriot Ukrainy) was registered as a party, but it was not publicly active in its first year.[8]
On October 14, 2016, 292 delegates from across Ukraine attended the public founding congress of the party under the name National Corps.[3] The congress, held in Kyiv, unanimously elected Andriy Biletsky, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, as the party's leader,[3] elected Commander Nazariy Kravchenko (Назарій Кравченко) of the Azov National Guard Headquarters as the deputy leader, and appointed members of the party's ruling council.[5] The congress also approved changes to the party's charter and political programme.[5]
In 2018, Olena Semeniaka became the international secretary of the party.[10]
In November 2018, the National Corps refused to support Ruslan Koshulynskyi and his campaign for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, and instead decided to nominate its own leader, Andriy Biletsky, as the common candidate of the Ukrainian nationalist camp.[11] However, in late January 2019, Biletsky ruled out his participation in the presidential elections, and stated that he would concentrate all efforts "to bring our numbers to 50,000 people", and pledged to spearhead a successful campaign for the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[4]
According to Bellingcat, in 2019, the Ukrainian government gave over 8 million hryvnias for "national-patriotic education projects” targeting Ukrainian youth, of which $30,000 "apparently" was allocated to several right-wing groups including National Corps.[12]
For the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the National Corps joined a nationwide united party list with Svoboda, the Governmental Initiative of Yarosh, and the Right Sector.[6] However, the coalition only managed to win 2.15% of the popular vote, and since the coalition failed to pass the 5% threshold, it ultimately received no representation in the Verkhovna Rada.[7] In addition, the National Corps also failed to win any single-mandate constituency seat.[7]
In 2019, it clashed with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy over his Steinmeier Formula [uk; hy; ru] plan to give parts of eastern Ukraine limited autonomy, which the National Corps resisted.[2]
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it suspended its political activities, with most of its activists involved instead in armed defence of the country.[14]
Policies and ideology
National Corps campaign booth
According to the Ukrainian monitoring organisation Reporting Radicalism, "National Corps party members are not homogeneous." Its membership was drawn from both far right groups and football hooligans, especially from Dynamo Kyiv. The largest group of its members are young people politicised by the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War, often paid to attend rallies. The second largest group are Azov veterans.[8]
Its members "crafted its ideology and public image as a less radical organization than Andrii Biletskyi's previous political projects", according to Reporting Radicalism, for instance not using racist language, eschewing neo-Nazi symbols and instead using Ukrainian nationalist imagery, and reaching out to Jewish community leaders.[8][2] In 2022, one of its spokespeople described its platform as akin to a "European rightwing conservative party, but it is definitely not ultra-right", while Taras Kuzio of the Henry Jackson Society called it "closest to something like... neo-Nazis".[14]
In 2018, Ihor Vdovin, a spokesman for the militia wing, told The Guardian that the National Corps are not neo-Nazis and did not want to establish a white supremacist state, although he admitted that some members hold white supremacist or neo-Nazi views. The party's leader Andriy Biletsky had previously made racist statements, such as his 2010 speech calling on "the white races of the world into a final crusade against Semite-led [Jews] Untermenschen [subhumans]", but has subsequently "toned down his rhetoric", denying being antisemitic and naming Israel and Japan as models for Ukraine's future development.[1][19] Nonetheless, it has been involved in violence against Roma and antifa activists.[8][2] In a 2018 country report, the U.S. State Department referred to the National Corps as one of Ukraine's “nationalist hate groups”, although this was not an official designation.[2][8]
It has sought to make links with global far right activists. (For example, it has been in contact with the US Rise Above Movement.) Its spokesperson Olena Semenyaka has played a prominent role in these networking efforts.[2]
^"Ukrainian Far-Right Extremists Receive State Funds to Teach "Patriotism"". 16 July 2019. For 2019, the government of Ukraine has earmarked eight million hryvnias (over $300,000 USD) for what it calls "national-patriotic education projects" aimed at Ukrainian youth, including children. Of these 845,000 hryvnias — over $30,000 — apparently go to programs that are run by a number of branches of Ukrainian far-right groups, including National Corps, the political wing of the Azov movement. National Corps has been implicated in numerous incidents against minorities, activists and police. This 845,000 hryvnias figure also includes state funding for "national-patriotic education projects" by organizations that are not only arguable fronts for another notorious far-right organization — C14 — but are also led by the accused murderers of Ukrainian reporter Oles Buzyna.
^програма політичної партії "національний корпус" [program of the political party "national corps"], 26 October 2018 - "5.1. Economic nationalism: 'The national economy must be subordinated to national interests. Ukrainian Centrism in the economy determines the full support of the Ukrainian producer, accelerated modernization of the national economy, state support of Ukrainian exports, and the implementation of the policy of economic protectionism.'"
