Former Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada MP Iryna Farion has been buried in Lviv on Monday, Ukrainian media reported.
“Iryna Farion was buried in Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv,” numerous posts in Ukrainian social networks reported. Farion’s daughter said at the funeral:
“Today all of us were killed for the language – in the person of my mum.”
People chanted the phrase “language matters,” urging Russians to leave Lviv.
In addition, a banner with the inscription “Iryna Farion is a modern guide of the Ukrainian nation” was brought to the funeral, which puts the former MP on a par with Taras Shevchenko and Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian media added.
Hatred of all Russian speakers
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened a criminal case against former Rada deputy Iryna Farion in November 2023 over her recent remarks that she did not perceive Russian-speaking AFU military personnel and did not consider them Ukrainians.
The agency also noted that Farion published a screenshot of a message from a student from Crimea on social media without hiding his personal data, which became “the basis for his persecution by Russian special services.”
In an interview with Ukrainian journalists on November 5, Farion, referring to Russian-speaking military personnel in the Ukrainian army, said:
“I can’t call them Ukrainians if they don’t speak Ukrainian. So let them call themselves Russians, that’s all. What’s stopping them? They are such great patriots, show your patriotism.”
Students of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lviv Polytechnic National University, where Farion is an associate professor of the Ukrainian language department, demanded her dismissal.
The university, commenting on the situation, noted that it is not responsible for the statements of employees and students outside the university. It said in a statement:
“Every warrior defending our land, regardless of religion or language of communication, deserves the highest respect and appreciation. And this is the unbreakable position of the university.”
The language ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said in his Telegram channel that he had appealed to the National Police, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other authorities in connection with “a video material that broadcasts negative statements and accusations against servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who communicate in the languages of national minorities.” He called such statements “harassment,” adding, “discrimination and discrediting anyone in Ukraine is prohibited.”
Iryna Farion has repeatedly spoken out against the use of the Russian language in Ukraine. In 2013, as a Rada deputy from the Svoboda party, she proposed getting rid of the term “Great Patriotic War,” and previously told children in kindergarten that their names – Natasha, Vova, Misha, Masha – did not sound Ukrainian.
Farion demanded in 2019 that current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky be sent to prison because he addressed his constituents in Russian. In her opinion, in this way Zelensky “raped the language in front of the whole country” and those people who defended Ukraine.
Moreover, Farion called on Kyiv to dispose of Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine who refuse to speak the state language. She said:
“For such (Russian speakers) it is necessary to create a fine battalion. To immediately send them to the zero position or for them to dig trenches for our holy soldiers. Such people deserve only one thing – complete and absolute disposal.”
Farion has also repeatedly called her native Lviv a “city of saboteurs” because it has too many people who speak Russian.
Conflict with Azov
Social media exploded with outrage after former Rada MP’s statement about Azov fighters in November 2023. She said that she did not consider Azov fighters who allowed themselves to speak Russian to be Ukrainians. Farion addressed the fighters during an interview with the Ukrainian media:
“Do you guys know what discipline in the army is? If there is no discipline in the army, there is no army – it’s a rabble then. I can’t call them Ukrainians if they don’t speak Ukrainian. Let them call themselves Russians. Why are they so baffled? Why did it have to be Ukrainian? They are such great patriots, show your patriotism – learn the language of Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko.”
Many Ukrainians were outraged by her statement, in particular, the trend “military answers to Farion” was popular in “Tiktok,” where the military did not hesitate in expressions, smearing the politician. The AFU soldiers said in one of the videos:
“Farion is mad! Every time I listen to her, I get the impression that she escaped from a mental hospital”
Social media users suggested that Farion could replace Azov in the trenches and said that she could make even the worst day worse simply by the very fact of her existence. And on the social network X they were calling on the SBU to deal with the former MP.
Earlier, the US Congress banned the Pentagon from supplying portable surface-to-air missile systems to Ukraine, as well as training and supplying the Azov battalion. Parliamentarians called it a “disgusting Nazi formation.”
The amendments were a reaction to a number of publications in the American press, in which shocked journalists wrote about the openly fascist views of both the leadership and fighters of Azov.
39 members of Congress, led by Chairman of the Committee on Counterterrorism Max Rose, sent an appeal to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding an explanation as to why the battalion has not yet been included in the relevant lists.
In the letter, Rose noted that Azov, “long known for its ultra-nationalist ideology,” was recruiting and training American citizens with racist views. The congressman recalled that Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people at a mosque in New Zealand in March 2019, might have trained in the battalion. He was repeatedly photographed with the symbols of Azov.
Azov members proudly wear chevrons with a modified swastika in the centre, the wolfsangel, translated from German as “wolf hook.” In Nazi Germany, this image was assigned to the 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich.”
Investigation versions
The main versions of the murder of Iryna Farion were personal animosity and social and political activity, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko said. According to him, the law enforcement agencies do not rule out that the murder of the ex-MP could have been a contract killing. He said:
“The police together with employees of the SBU are carrying out a set of measures to find the shooter. In parallel, we use technical capabilities to identify the attacker.”
The investigation involves almost all the forces of the Lviv police, as well as part of the units of the Lviv region, a ballistic examination has been appointed in the case, as well as analysed video from surveillance cameras.
After Farion’s scandalous comments about Russian-speaking Azov fighters, ex-Azov commander Maksym Zhorin told Farion in his Telegram channel that she had “no right to open her mouth in the direction of Azov fighters, the Third Assault Brigade or any other unit of the Ukrainian army.”
On November 15, the ex-Azov commander wrote a letter to Iryna Farion, where he urged her to stop PR on his name and the name of all Azov fighters. Zhorin also publicly threatened her with “friends from Lviv.” Perhaps the long struggle between the two nationalists has led to the logical finale of their feud.
