OREANDA-NEWS Russian President Vladimir Putin read out letters from Bandera members about the "destruction of Jews" at a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The broadcast of the event is available on Rutube.

On the eve of the forum session, the Russian leader asked to send him relevant materials. He read a letter from Yaroslav Stenko, the head of the "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN, an extremist organization banned in Russia) of Stepan Bandera's faction.

"39th year: "Moscow and Judaism are the biggest enemies of Ukraine. I insist on the extermination of Jews and the expediency of transferring German methods of working with Jewry to Ukraine." Another figure, on July 10, 1941, the so-called "Lviv massacre", (...) a certain Stepan Lenkavsky: "Regarding the Jews, we use all methods that will lead to their complete destruction," Putin read the letters of Bandera and asked: "What is this?"

Earlier, Putin said he did not understand how his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky, having Jewish roots, could support neo-Nazis. He added that he was surprised how the leader of the "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN, an extremist organization banned in Russia) Stepan Bandera, who destroyed the civilian Jewish population, could be elevated to the rank of a national hero.

During the Second World War, Stepan Bandera headed the OUN, which operated in Western Ukraine. He worked closely with Nazi Germany. In 1959, he was liquidated in Munich by KGB agent Bogdan Stashinsky.