[14][15] Although Tyahnybok expelled neofascist groups, Svoboda never abandoned ethnic ultranationalist views and he reaffirmed the party's commitment to its original xenophobic platform.

[19] Described as an ultranationalist,[20][21] right-wing populist party,[22][23] it expressed support and staged commemorations honoring early 20th century, Ukrainian far-right nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, and it opposes immigration, globalism and free trade.

[61][62] According to Andreas Umland, Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,[63] Svoboda's increasing exposure in the Ukrainian media has contributed to its recent successes.

[66] In early 2012, Svoboda was criticized in domestic and international media after party member Yuri Sirotyuk said that Ukrainian pop star Gaitana, who is of African descent, was a poor choice to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 because she was "not an organic representative of the Ukrainian culture"[67][68] Sirotyuk stated that "It looks like we don't want to show our face, and Ukraine will be associated with a different continent, somewhere in Africa.

"[67] Starting approximately from 2009, and especially 2010, after pro-Russian Yanukovych taking Ukraine's president seat, his government, Party of Regions, and loyal oligarchs have indirectly and directly helped Svoboda.

[69][70] In the run-up to the 2012 election, some Ukrainian media commentators and political analysts expected Svoboda's rising support would come at the expense of more mainstream elements of the opposition and to the benefit of the ruling Party of Regions.

When the Vladimir Lenin monument in Kyiv was toppled during Euromaidan, MP Ihor Myroshnichenko accepted responsibility for the act on behalf of Svoboda.

[94][95] On 18 March 2014, Svoboda members posted an online video of party MPs beating acting National Television Company of Ukraine president Oleksandr Panteleymonov and trying to force him to sign a letter of resignation because he broadcast the Crimea accession to the Russian Federation ceremony in the Kremlin.

In the video Panteleymonov's broadcast was called "state treason" by Svoboda MP Miroshnychenko, deputy head of the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information.

[100] On 24 July 2014, Svoboda and the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) withdrew from the government coalition, stating they were doing so in order to pave the way for early parliamentary elections;[101] Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk announced his resignation to the Verkhovna Rada a few hours later.

[113] In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections, Svoboda managed to secure first round re-election for their incumbent mayors in West Ukraine, in Ternopil (Serhiy Nadal), Khmelnytskyi (Oleksandr Symсhyshyn) and Ivano-Frankivsk (Ruslan Martsinkiv), but again failed at expanding its support base into other parts of the country.

[118][119][example needed] In 2012, political scientist Andreas Umland predicted the party would continue to become more moderate over time, and that "there's a belief that Svoboda will change, once in the Verkhovna Rada, and that they may become proper national democrats.

[43] On 29 August 2013, Svoboda announced the opening of a representative office, at Rue de la Science/Wetenschapsstraat 14b in Brussels, the same address as the 2012-founded European Centre for a Modern Ukraine.

[135][excessive citations] In a 2011 march organized by Svoboda to celebrate the World War II-era Waffen-SS Galicia Division, participants shouted "one race, one nation, one Fatherland.

[140][independent source needed] Svoboda is known for its anti-communist stance, and several party activists over the years have been accused of trying to destroy Communist-era statues.

[141][142] On 16 February 2013, police in Ukraine opened a criminal case on charges of hooliganism against nationalist activists led by Svoboda Supreme Rada deputy Ihor Miroshnychenko for the dismantling of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Okhtyrka, Sumy Oblast.

[147] Journalist David Stern describes the party as a "driving force" behind anti-gay politics in Ukraine, but states that many of its members may not share all its controversial positions.

[148] In April 2013, three Svoboda MPs sponsored a bill banning abortions except in cases involving severe pathology, a medical risk to a woman's life, and rape when proven in court.

[162] In 2009, due to Svoboda's efforts, the proposal to build a statue of the Romanian Marshal Alexandru Averescu in Ozerne [ro], in southern Ukraine (his native village), was rejected.

[164] Party leader Oleh Tyahnybok stated in March 2013 that the EU warning against Svoboda's influence was the result of "Moscow agents working through a Bulgarian socialist MP".

"[165] Tyahnybok furthermore stated that "spin doctors who are working against Svoboda" cover up the non-controversial points in the party's election programme "by promoting some clearly secondary issues through mass media outlets controlled by pro-government forces".

[165] During a Party of Regions rally in Kyiv to counter the ongoing Euromaidan protests, MP Olena Bondarenko called Tyahnybok a "traitor" and one "who helps the Kremlin and Moscow."

"[169] Prominent Ukrainian journalist and president of TVi Channel Vitaly Portnikov defended Svoboda against criticism, as he noted he is often questioned for supporting party leader Oleh Tyahnybok despite himself being Jewish.

Portnikov said, "I [stand with them] with great pleasure, because Oleh wants Ukraine to be part of the European Union" and that "presently Svoboda is acting in a very decent way, and I see no problem there.

"[2] Political analyst Olszański argued that voters from southern or eastern Ukraine, especially those who are poor, less educated, or attached to a "Soviet historical narrative," are hostile to nationalism, easily convinced that Svoboda is the modern analog of the Nazi invaders, and further that the Party of Regions is the only force capable of stopping a 'brown revenge'.

[52] Political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański wrote in 2011 that the social-nationalist ideology which Svoboda formerly adhered to included "openly racist rhetoric" concerning 'white supremacy' following its establishment in 1991, and that comparisons with Nazism have been legitimized by its history.

[170] Andreas Umland, a political scientist at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,[63] has asserted in 2010 that "Svoboda was a racist party promoting explicitly ethnocentric and anti-Semitic ideas".

[177] In 2012, international human rights organization the Simon Wiesenthal Center placed Svoboda party leader Oleg Tyahnybok fifth in its list of the top 10 antisemites and haters of Israel, based on his previous comments regarding Jews in Ukraine.

[181] Party leader Oleh Tyahnybok (in January 2011) has described the Azarov Government and the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych "a Kremlin colonial administration",[65] referencing Svoboda's opposition to perceived Russian influences in Ukrainian politics.

In its place, a tamer, populist program focused on the impeachment of President Viktor Yanukovych and the renunciation of the 2010 Kharkiv agreements that let Russia's Black Sea Fleet stay in Crimea through 2042 was used.