A neo-Nazi group called National-Socialism / White Power (NS/WP) has claimed responsibility for last week’s murder of Irina Farion, a former Ukrainian ultranationalist lawmaker, media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing the organization’s private Telegram channel.
Farion, who represented the far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party in the Ukrainian parliament from 2012 to 2014 and was known for her hardline Russophobic stance, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in the western city of Lviv.
On Wednesday, several Ukrainian and Russian media outlets unearthed a video on the NS/WP Telegram channel purporting to show the moment the shooter critically wounded Farion. The ten-second clip provides few verifiable details, as the lens is mostly blocked by a finger, but it shows several gunshots, with a woman screaming in the background. Several outlets, however, overlaid the clip with publicly available videos and identified commonalities, specifically some cars that feature in each video.
The post was also accompanied by a message in Russian that read: “I take responsibility for the elimination of the saboteur and racial traitor Irina Farion,” while promising to retaliate against other “enemies of Ukrainians.” The alleged killer also insisted that he murdered the ex-MP because she stirred up divisions in the country based on language, while thanking the Ukrainian military for fighting with Russia.
“I’m not interfering with you; on the contrary, I’m working for your good. While you are fighting the external enemy, I am fighting the internal one,” the message said.
The National Police of Ukraine said they were investigating the post and analyzing the video to see if it could provide any additional clues. The country’s law enforcement agencies said the prime suspect was a slender man in his 20s, with local media reports suggesting he had been preparing the attack for a long time.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said an 18-year-old suspect in the murder case had been arrested in the city of Dnepr as a result of a “difficult” operation.
Farion, a linguist by training, came into the spotlight last year for her jabs at the top officers of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which comprises many members of the former neo-Nazi Azov regiment, over their use of Russian. Her remarks were met with fierce backlash; she was fired from the Lviv Polytechnic Institute, while the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened an investigation against her on charges of discrimination.
In spring 2022, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that it had arrested six NS/WP members for plotting to assassinate prominent journalist Vladimir Solovyov. The group is outlawed in Russia.