November 11th marks 250 days since brothers Aleksander and Mikhail Kononovich were imprisoned by the Ukrainian pro-Nazi regime. Until then, the World Federation of Democratic Youth has declared a week of solidarity with our jailed comrades, who have falsely been accused of acting as Russian and Belorussian spies.
SKU demands the immediate release of the Kononovich brothers. They have been arrested solely for expressing their opposition to the war on social media, and their involvement in the Ukrainian Communist and Labour movement, which has been totally criminalized by Zelensky’s fascist regime.
Unfortunately, the Kononovich brothers’ situation is not unique. Throughout Ukraine, young communists, trade union activists and anti fascists have been murdered, imprisoned or forced underground since the 2014 Maidan coup.
Throughout this war, it has been proven time and again that Ukraine is not a progressive symbol of democracy or justice, as the Western bourgeoisie and their propagandists have been so keen to point out. The regime’s repression of communists, the trade union movement, and the Russian-speaking population are concrete examples of the reactionary nature of the Ukrainian regime. The banning of opposition parties (including the Communist Party, which was the first party to be banned in 2014 following the fascist coup d’etat) and the use of Nazi paramilitaries should be enough to see through the lies being propagated about Ukraine’s government.
SKU expresses its total solidarity with the illegally jailed Kononovich brothers and all other communists and socialists who have been imprisoned, murdered, fled for their lives and had to go into hiding over the past 8 years and, in particular, since the outbreak of the war.
We demand an end to this terrible imperialist war between Russia and the West, which has caused so much devastation and death. And we demand that the Swedish imperialist government cease all military support to the Ukrainian regime, which only fuels the war and fills the wallets of the Swedish arms manufacturers. And instead, call for dialogue and a ceasefire between the parties. So that this madness can end at last.
#FREEKONONOVICH
Communist Youth of Sweden