Union boss ‘held up Communist flag alongside people singing pro-Russia chants in occupied Ukraine’
The leader of a major railway union was revealed to have posed with a Communist flag and been photographed with people chanting pro-Russian slogans during a visit to occupied Ukraine.
Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), traveled to Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2015, a year after it was invaded by Russia.
While he described the trip as a “humanitarian aid convoy”, images from his visit Telegram – He was seen holding the red Communist Party flag in his hand, while those around him were chanting slogans in Russian such as “If we are united, we will never be defeated” and “Donbas, the grave of fascism”.
He was also seen posing in front of the Lenin statue during a trip organized by the Anti-Fascist Forum.
But an RMT spokesman said Mr Dempsey’s trip was part of a humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine “motivated by the terrible fire at the Trades Union House in 2014” which killed 42 people following clashes with far-right nationalists.
They emphasized that Mr. Dempsey “never supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
Under Mr Dempsey’s leadership, the RMT transport union passed a controversial motion last year calling on Britain to stop sending military aid to Ukraine, accusing it of playing a “combatant role in international relations”.
During the 2015 trip, Mr. Dempsey was photographed wearing a T-shirt depicting the coat of arms of Novorossiya, a 19th-century Russian province covering southern and eastern Ukraine.
Mr Dempsey was reportedly invited to the trip to Alchevsk by Alexei Mozgovoy, the founder of the pro-Russian separatist group Prizrak Brigade, who died two weeks after the trip.
The images he saw TelegramIt shows Mr Dempsey getting out of the car and filming Mr Mozgovoy, who is said to have accused the Ukrainian government of being a “money launderer” and talked about plans to set up collective pig farms.
In one of the photos, the RMT leader poses with a group of people holding a red flag with the communist party logo on it.
An RMT spokesman said: “Eddie Dempsey is a lifelong anti-fascist with an extensive record of tackling racism in Britain and abroad.
“The decision to go to Ukraine with a humanitarian aid convoy was motivated by the terrible fire in the Trades Union House in 2014, in which at least 42 people died following clashes with far-right Ukrainian nationalists.
“Mr. Dempsey never supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
The House of Trade Unions fire occurred when a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a building in Odessa during a conflict between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists.
