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this Leaders of major railroad unions Take photos with communist flags and sing along with people pro-Russian Slogans for visits to occupied areas Ukrainehas appeared.
general secretary National Federation of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Eddie Dempsey went to Donbass region of Ukraine In 2015, one year after the Russian invasion.
While he described the trip as a “humanitarian convoy,” footage of his visit – by telegraph – He is pictured holding a red Communist flag as people around him chant slogans in Russian such as “United, we will never be defeated” and “ donbasthe grave of fascism”.
During the trip, he was seen posing in front of a statue of Lenin at an event organized by the Anti-Fascist Forum.
However, an RMT spokesman said Dempsey’s trip, which was part of a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine, was “motivated by the appalling fire at Union House in 2014” which killed 42 people after clashes with far-right nationalists.
They insist Mr Dempsey “never supported Russia’s invasion of the United States” Ukraine and repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “
Under Dempsey, the RMT Transport Alliance passed a controversial motion last year calling for the UK to stop providing military aid to Ukraine, accusing the UK of playing a “belligerent role in international relations”.
On a trip in 2015, Mr Dempsey was photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing the emblem of Novorossiya, the 19th-century Russian province covering southern and eastern Ukraine.
Mr Dempsey was reportedly invited to Alchevsk by Alexey Mozgovoi, the founder of the pro-Russian separatist group the Prizlak Brigades, who died two weeks after the visit.
This video was seen telegraphshows Mr Dempsey leaving the coach and filming Mozgovoi, who can reportedly be heard accusing the Ukrainian government of being a “money launderer” and talking about plans to set up collective pig farms.
One photo showed RMT leaders posing with a group of people holding red flags emblazoned with Communist Party symbols.
An RMT spokesman said: “Eddie Dempsey was a lifelong anti-fascist with an extensive record of fighting racism in the UK and abroad.
“His decision to join a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine was prompted by a horrific fire at a trade union building in 2014 following clashes with far-right Ukrainian nationalists, which killed at least 42 people.
“Mr. Dempsey has never supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
A fire bomb broke out at a trade union building in Odessa after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a building during clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists.