Union boss ‘held up communist flag alongside people singing pro-Russia chants in occupied Ukraine’

The leader of a major railway union posed with a communist flag and was pictured alongside people singing pro-Russia chants on a visit to occupied Ukraine, it has emerged.

The general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Eddie Dempsey, travelled to the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2015, one year after it had been invaded by Russia.

While he characterised the trip as a “humanitarian convoy”, footage from his visit – obtained by The Telegraph – showed him holding the red Communist Party flag while those around him chanted slogans in Russian, such as “United, we will never be defeated” and “The Donbas, the tomb of fascism”.

He was also seen posing in front of a statue of Lenin on the trip, which was organised by the Anti-Fascist Forum.

However, an RMT spokesperson said Mr Dempsey’s trip was part of a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine, “motivated by the appalling House of Trade Unions fire in 2014” that killed 42 people following clashes with far-right nationalists.

They insisted that Mr Dempsey has “at no time 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 last year passed a controversial motion calling for the UK to stop sending military aid to Ukraine, accusing Britain of playing a “belligerent role in international relations”.

During the 2015 trip, Mr Dempsey was pictured wearing a T-shirt depicting the coat of arms of Novorossiya, a 19th-century Russian province which covered southern and eastern Ukraine.

Mr Dempsey had reportedly been invited on the trip to Alchevsk by Aleksey Mozgovoy, the founder of the Prizrak Brigade, a pro-Russian separatist group. He died two weeks after the trip.

The footage, seen by The Telegraph, shows Mr Dempsey exiting a coach and filming Mozgovoy, who can reportedly be heard accusing the Ukrainian government of being “money launderers” and talking about plans to build collective pig farms.

One image shows the RMT leader posing with a group of people holding a red flag with the Communist Party logo emblazoned across it.

An RMT spokesperson said: “Eddie Dempsey is a lifelong anti-fascist with an extensive track record of fighting racism in Britain and abroad.

“His decision to go on a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine was motivated by the appalling House of Trade Unions fire in 2014, in which at least 42 people were killed, following clashes with far-right Ukrainian nationalists.

“Mr Dempsey has at no time 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 Molotov cocktails were thrown into a building in Odesa during a clash between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia activists.