• A Ukrainian oligarch funded a scheme to paint swastikas in Ukraine, sources told Rolling Stone.
• The graffiti reportedly aimed to fuel false claims that Nazis had a large presence in Ukraine.
• Putin has said Russia's invasion aimed for the "demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine."

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An oligarch with ties to Russia bankrolled a scheme to paint swastikas in Ukraine over the winter as part of a campaign to spread claims that Nazis had a large presence in the country, sources told Rolling Stone.

Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian businessman who formerly had Russian citizenship, used intermediaries to pay criminals between $500 and $1,500 to paint antisemitic graffiti across Ukraine in December, January, and February, the sources reportedly told the publication.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade Ukraine in late February in what he called a "special military operation". He has called Ukraine's government — whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish — a "band of junkies and neo-Nazis" and said that the invasion aimed for the "demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine."

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