Follow us on social

US lifts ban on Neo-Nazi linked Azov Brigade in Ukraine

US lifts ban on Neo-Nazi linked Azov Brigade in Ukraine

Easing the restrictions shows how desperate the battlefield situation has become

Reporting | QiOSK

The State Department announced that it has lifted its ban on the use of American weapons by the notorious Azov Brigade in Ukraine, an ultra-nationalist outfit widely described as “neo-fascist," even "neo-Nazi."

The group was initially formed in 2014 as a volunteer militia to fight against Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists in the eastern Donbas region, and later incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine, under the purview of the Interior Ministry.

“After thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the U.S. Department of State,” according to a statement by the Department which referred to the “Leahy Law” that restricts American military assistance to “units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights."

The ban was first put in place in a federal 2018 omnibus government spending package, citing that it was an ultranationalist outfit that openly invited neo-Nazis into its ranks. In addition, both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have reported on “credible allegations” of “torture and other egregious abuses” by Azov and other volunteer units. U.N. human rights officials have also accused the group of humanitarian violations.

“White supremacy and neo-Nazism are unacceptable and have no place in our world,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in 2018 when the ban was first imposed. “I am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the U.S. from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighting in Ukraine.”

Azov’s links to and associations with far-right and quasi-fascist individuals and Nazi symbols has been well documented in Western media. The original founder of the paramilitary group, Andriy Biletsky, wrote that “the historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival. A crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.”

It was reported in 2014 that while Azov may represent one of the “most potent and reliable” military forces in Ukraine, they “also pose the most serious threat to the Ukrainian government, and perhaps even the state.”

Soon after being elected president in 2019, President Zelensky had attempted to follow through on his campaign promise of pursuing a peace policy with Russia. However, when seeking to encourage Ukrainian forces to agree to a plan of mutual disengagement on the front lines and to remove illegal arms from a small frontline town, Zelensky came face to face with the reality of the willingness of Azov-aligned forces to resist the demands of Kyiv. Biletsky at the time threatened Zelensky, saying that thousands more fighters would head to the town of Zolote if the president sought to evict those currently there.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, however, the Azov Brigade has undertaken a makeover of its external image as Moscow sought to play up their disconcerting past.

Naturally, this latest move by the State Department has been celebrated by Azov and met with rebuke in Moscow. However, this development also signals that the situation on Ukrainian front lines has become so acute that even a ban on an armed unit with ties to human rights violations and neo-Nazism is now being revoked.

Of course it cannot be denied that Azov has long-since demonstrated itself as one of the most capable fighting forces Ukraine has. Its ultimately unsuccessful, yet heroic defense of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol in 2022 contributed to a rise in their national prestige and helped garner the group a measure of approval from many in Ukrainian society who did not originally sympathize with the ultra-nationalist camp. In addition, the adoption by President Zelensky and the Ukrainian government of ethnic nationalist language has helped legitimize Azov and its discourse.

Nevertheless, the U.S. and Europe continue to “release the reins” so as to allow the Ukrainians to throw everything they have at the Russians. Unfortunately, while such steps have yet to alter the fundamental realities on the battlefield, they do show a willingness in Washington to directly support the types of armed groups that many Americans are otherwise conditioned to recoil from.

Alas, any future Ukrainian government that feels compelled to reach a compromise peace with Russia may well likely face armed protests by Azov and other such groups that could pose a real risk to the Ukrainian state, as happened in 2014.


The Idea of the Nation symbol used by the 12th Azov Assault Brigade of Ukraines National Guard is pictured during a rally held in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the units foundation, Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine. Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 05, 2024. Photo by Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/ABACAPRESS.COM

Reporting | QiOSK
Latin America's hidden role in shaping US foreign policy
Top image credit: President Getulio Vargas of Brazil confers with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a conference aboard a U.S. destroyer in the Potengi River harbor at Natal, January 1943 (via US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

Latin America's hidden role in shaping US foreign policy

Latin America

For much of the Washington D.C. foreign policy apparatus, Latin America — a region plagued by economic instability, political upheaval, and social calamity — represents little more than a headache or an after-thought.

Not for Greg Grandin.

keep readingShow less
Hiroshima
Top image credit: Dennis MacDonald / Shutterstock.com

Symposium: Why was Japan the only nuclear holocaust in 80 yrs?

Global Crises

Eighty years ago today, August 6, 1945, the U.S. military dropped an atomic weapon nicknamed “Little Boy” on the city Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in a blast equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT, killing approximately 66,000 people immediately and some 100,000 more, the vast majority civilians, by the end of 1945.

Three days later, the U.S. deployed another nuclear bomb — this one “Fat Man” — on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, leaving upwards of 80,000 people dead by the end of the year.

keep readingShow less
Paul Biya
Top image credit: Cameroonian President Paul Biya, July 26, 2022. Photo by Stephane Lemouton/Pool/ABACAPRESS.COM via REUTERS

How an aging despot's grip on power could unravel Central Africa

Africa

A few weeks ago, 92-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya announced his intention to run for an eighth term in the country’s forthcoming election. This announcement, shocking, albeit widely anticipated, is already fueling fear that the country’s stability could be at risk, with wider implications for regional security.

The aged leader, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist since 1982, is easily the oldest president anywhere in the world. Indeed, only a few Cameroonians alive remember a time without Biya in power. Yet recent health scares seem to suggest that he may have reached the limit of his natural abilities. In 2008, his regime carried out a constitutional amendment to annul the two-term limit — clearing Biya’s path to rule for life through elections that, although regular, have been neither free nor fair.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.