The State Department announced Monday that it will allow Ukraine’s Azov Brigade, which has a long history of ties to National Socialism, to receive U.S.-made weapons and training.
Russia immediately accused the US of supporting Ukrainian “ultranationalists” and “neo-Nazis.”
“After a thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade has passed the Leahy screening conducted by the U.S. State Department,” the State Department said. SaidThe statement did not specify when the restrictions would be lifted or whether the Azov Brigades already had access to U.S. military equipment.
“Leahy LawThe No Violations Act, named after former Senator Pat Leahy (D-Vermont), is a series of statutory provisions passed in 1997 that prohibit the State Department and the Department of Defense (DoD) from providing funds, equipment, or training to foreign security forces suspected of serious human rights abuses.
The Leahy Act’s initial targets included Colombian military forces accused of mass killings of civilians to collect bounties for killing rebels. Pro-Palestinian activists frequently accuse the Biden administration of violating the Leahy Act in its support for Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, citing the high reported civilian casualties.
The Ukrainian National Guard shared video footage on its verified Twitter account of “Azov fighters” greasing bullets with pork fat for Chechen “orks” deployed in the country. https://t.co/CVai7ox2c5
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 27, 2022
The Leahy Act gives the Secretary of State discretion to waive its provisions if a foreign government is deemed to be taking credible steps to address allegations of human rights abuses, which involves a vetting process that the State Department mentioned in its remarks Monday.
The Azov Brigades are a volunteer militia. Been formed It was created in 2014 to fight pro-Russian separatist militias in eastern Ukraine. Initially a fully separate unit, it was incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard within two years and designated a special forces unit last year, a designation that has seen the unit step up its recruitment efforts, welcoming thousands of new members.
Since its inception, the Azov Brigade has used symbols reminiscent of Nazi symbolism, and foreign media organizations have little trouble finding Azov fighters who claim that Adolf Hitler was misunderstood, that the Holocaust never happened, or that the swastika is merely an ancient symbol of sun worship.
“I’m not against Russian nationalists or a great Russia, but Putin isn’t even Russian. He’s a Jew,” the Azov Brigade volunteer said. It pointed out He told the UK newspaper The Guardian in 2014.
Early Azov volunteers did not support the Ukrainian central government because they felt it did not provide enough support in the fight against the separatists, and some volunteers advocated replacing the government with a military junta to unify Ukraine and expel Russian troops permanently.
The Azov Brigade saw a surge in popularity among Ukrainians after the Russian invasion in 2022 and quickly developed a reputation as one of the most powerful brigades. Effective and determined A fighting unit that gained national hero status after defending the city of Mariupol and enduring weeks of intense Russian artillery bombardment, suffering hundreds of casualties but ultimately being defeated.
Nevertheless, the Ukrainian military high command has hailed the Azov Brigade as “heroes of our time.”Street protests by Ukrainian civilians calling on Russia to release the Azov prisoners of war have become a notable feature of national life in recent months.
Soldiers carry the coffin of comrade Andriy Konyaev, a member of the Azov regiment defending Mariupol and killed in the Russian prison camp Olenivka on July 29, 2022, during a funeral in Fastiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Yevgeny Maloretka)
In addition to the pro-Nazi political stance of its founding members, the Azov Brigades united nationsand by organizations such as: Amnesty International and Human Rights WatchThe allegations include mental and physical abuse of civilians and military prisoners of war.
In 2018, members of an Azov splinter group called National Druzhina were filmed using axes and sledgehammers to vandalize a Roma camp in Kiev. The Ukrainian National Police subsequently investigated the vigilantes for “hooliganism.” When a series of attacks on Roma camps followed and a group of human rights activists gathered in Kiev to discuss the issue, they Confused He was killed by an axe-wielding man who claimed to be a veteran of the Azov Battalion.
The Leahy Act was passed in 2014 against the Azov Brigades, banning them from receiving weapons or funding from the United States. Specifically prohibited The funds are prohibited from being used to “provide weapons, training, or support to the Azov Battalion.”
Ukrainian officials and Azov Brigade leaders have denied many of the accusations, the most extreme of which date back to the early days of the fight against pro-Russian separatists, and have denounced stories of the militia’s neo-Nazi leanings as “Russian propaganda.”
Azov and other Ukrainian militias are certainly Looks heavy In Russian propaganda, whether genuine or not, they were a key element of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s official justification for invading Ukraine in 2022.
Putin called the invasion a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarizing and de-Nazifying Ukraine” and said Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces were plotting “genocide” against ethnic Russians living in separatist areas in the east.
Most Russian state media coverage of the war portrays Russian troops as fighting Ukrainian “Nazis,” and annual Victory Day ceremonies honoring Russia’s defeat of Germany in World War II have been altered from 2022 onward to frame the Ukrainian war as a continuation of the fight against the Nazis.
Russia’s condemnation of Nazism is often call Stepan Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist leader killed by Soviet agents in 1959. Bandera is revered as a hero by some modern Ukrainians and was officially designated one by the Ukrainian government in 2005, while Russia considers him the godfather of neo-Nazi ideology.
Supporters of the Azov Brigade say the unit has changed its behavior since the alleged human rights abuses before the invasion, and that while some members may espouse controversial political views, the unit as a whole is patriotic and committed to defeating Russia’s illegal invasion.
Meanwhile, critics argue that Western media, in their strong support for Ukraine against Russia and even stronger support for President Joe Biden’s administration, are simply conveniently turning a blind eye to the more unsavory aspects of Azov and other Ukrainian militias.
Russia and its allies have repeatedly cited U.S. support for Ukraine and its neo-Nazi battalions as evidence of U.S. hypocrisy on human rights issues, particularly China. Totally delighted Regarding any reports of abusive behaviour or controversial statements made by Ukrainian fighters.
The unnamed U.S. official Said of The Washington Post The State Department effectively concluded that today’s Azov Brigades are “structurally distinct” from the militias that generated so much controversy before the Russian invasion.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) Quote Other U.S. officials said the original Azov Brigade was “disbanded in 2015” and that the new units, who played a “heroic role” in the defense of Mariupol, had gone through the rigorous vetting process required to lift the Leahy Act restrictions.
Ukrainian officials welcomed the State Department’s lifting of the Leahy Act ban on Monday as a firm rejection of Russian propaganda.
“The lies about Azov that the Kremlin regime has been spreading to the West for years suffered a devastating blow today,” the statement said. Declared.
“Receiving Western weapons and training from the United States will not only enhance the Azov’s combat capabilities, but most importantly, contribute to preserving the life and health of the brigade’s personnel,” the force said. Said “Azov has become even stronger, more professional and more dangerous for the occupying forces,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Azov Brigade said it had turned a “new page” in its history thanks to “long, painstaking work,” and its commanders said its already impressive fighting capabilities would be further improved by receiving U.S. funding and training.
Moscow was outraged by the announcement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov Being reprimanded He accused the United States of being “willing to even flirt with neo-Nazis.”
“Such a sudden change in Washington’s stance shows that they are using Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as their own tool and will stop at nothing to suppress Russia,” Peskov said.
“This once again confirms the importance of our concerns regarding the creeping trend of neo-Nazi ideology around the world,” he said.
