Azov Battalion

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"Conspiracy theory"
Group.png Azov Battalion  
(Nazis, Army)Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Azov Battalion.png
Interest ofAndriy Biletsky, Adrien Bocquet, Sergey Korotkikh, Patrick Lancaster, Olena Semenyaka, Natalya Vovk, Maksym Zhorin
The not be talked about neo-nazi army battalion Ukraine used to fight against the Russian military in the Donbass and Ukraine. Its existence is highly talked down in western media.

Azov Special Operations Detachment aka Azov Battalion is a right-wing extremist and neo-Nazi unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, based in Mariupol, in the Azov Sea coastal region. Local resident, reporter and former US Navy employee Patrick Lancaster has interviewed dozens of Ukrainian civilians accusing them of war crimes in the 2010s and 2020s, in particular in the Donbass region of Ukraine.

Background

The Azov Battalion has its roots in a group of ultras of FC Metalist Kharkiv named "Sect 82" (1982 is the year of the founding of the group). "Sect 82" was (at least until September 2013) allied with FC Spartak Moscow ultras Late February 2014, during the 2014 Ukraine coup/Civil war "Sect 82" occupied the Kharkiv Oblast regional administration building in Kharkiv and served as a local "self-defence force." Soon after, a company of the Special Tasks Patrol Police called "Eastern Corps" was formed on the basis of "Sect 82".

On 13 April 2014, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov issued a decree authorizing the creation of new paramilitary forces of up to 12,000 people. Azov was started as one of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions of the Special Tasks Patrol Police regulated by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. According to some sources, it was led by Volodymyr Shpara, the leader of the Vasylkiv, Kyiv, branch of Patriot of Ukraine and another sketchy group named the Right Sector.

Many members of the political party Patriot of Ukraine joined the battalion. Among the early patrons of the battalion were Oleh Lyashko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, ultra-nationalist Dmytro Korchynsky, businessman Serhiy Taruta, and Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov. The battalion received training near Kyiv by instructors with experience in the Georgian Armed Forces.

Combat

The Azov Battalion saw its first combat experience recapturing Mariupol from pro-Russian separatist forces in June 2014. Azov initially formed as a volunteer militia on 5 May 2014 during the Odessa clashes and Azov was incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine on 12 November 2014.[1]

In 2014, the Azov Battalion gained notoriety after allegations emerged of torture and war crimes, as well as neo-Nazi sympathies and usage of associated symbols by the regiment itself, as seen in their logo featuring the Wolfsangel, one of the original symbols used by the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. In 2018, a provision in an appropriations bill passed by the US Congress blocked military aid to Azov on the grounds of its white supremacist ideology;[2] in 2015, a similar ban on aid to the group was overturned by the Congress.[3] Members of the regiment come from 22 countries and are of various backgrounds.

In 2017, the size of the Azov regiment was estimated at more than 2,500 members. Its first commander was far-right nationalist Andriy Biletsky, who led the neo-Nazi Social-National Assembly and Patriot of Ukraine. In its early days, Azov was a special police company of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, led by Volodymyr Shpara, the leader of the Vasylkiv, Kyiv, branch of Patriot of Ukraine and Right Sector.

In 2016, veterans of the regiment and members of a non-governmental organization named "Azov Civil Corps" created the political party National Corps.[4]

War crimes

Patrick Lancaster has remained as one of the only non Ukrainians still reporting from the war zones, continuing work from the 2014 Ukraine coup/Civil war. In particular, the bombing and killing of civilians by Azov inside the Donbass appeared to continue as Lancaster's videos has shown, although very unreported in western media.[5]

Lancaster has reported about Ukrainian and Russian war crimes. The usage of false flags by both is telling and under-reported in western media. His reports paint a chaotic side of the war, with the Azov Battalion and Ukrainian army shooting at each other.[6]


 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
Corriere della Sera“The atmosphere is permeated with partisan passion: people ready to die in order not to give up. They are the new models of this armed country, which is cultivating heroic myths to motivate the determination to keep fighting. Marginal and controversial until a few years ago, the Azov volunteers for many are now the example to follow, the inspiration for recruits and volunteers. "Ukraine is our mother and Stepan Bandera is our father", they sing in the second verse, referring to the founding leader of their movement (murdered by a KGB agent in Berlin in 1959), accused by pro-Russians of having collaborated with Nazi Germany to fight the Soviets during the Second World War, and which is now being re-evaluated by the resistance as a patriot of free, unredeemed and democratic Ukraine.”Corriere della Sera
Lorenzo Cremonesi
5 May 2022
Patrick Lancaster“I mean I'm just I've been working here on this side of the contact line and the anti-Ukraine government territory so I've only been able to show what happened here, but what I've seen here with my own eyes is indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas year after year by Ukrainian forces. Indiscriminate and targeted in fact, just last month (..) two civilian electric plants targeted by Ukrainian forces. (...)

Now that the war is really hot attacks are coming in every hour, and I mean the only thing that's being shown in the west is the results of Russian attacks on Ukraine, but what the west isn't showing is every day here in Donetsk there is attacks from Ukraine controlled territory Ukraine attacking the civilian population here. In the last 12 days there has been 19 civilians killed.

I mean it's not a huge amount like across Ukraine right now but in the last 12 days in the Donetsk people's republic controlled territory there's been 19 civilians killed and I believe 27 injured and these are results of Ukrainian attacks on mostly civilian areas of course battle's been raging on the front line since this new development happened and even before, but so you know a lot of the shells are hitting civilian areas and I assume a lot are hitting military areas as well... Those aren't as free to report on as the other ones.”
Patrick Lancaster
Cyrus Janssen
2022

 

Employee on Wikispooks

EmployeeJobAppointedDescription
Olena SemenyakaHead of the International Outreach Office2019"a formidable power behind the throne"

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:NATO goes to war against RussiaStatement1 March 2022World Socialist Web SiteThere must be a new mass anti-war movement, based on the international working class. This opposition, however, must be developed as a conscious political movement for socialism. This means the building of the International Committee of the Fourth International and its affiliated Socialist Equality Parties in every country.
Document:War CrimesArticle9 October 2022Jacob DreizinAn article that was written on the occurrence of the disposal of civilians posted in video by Maksim Zhorin.
File:My Encounter with Ukrainian-American Nazi Mark Paslawsky.pdfarticle2 September 2014George EliasonThe encounter that G. Eliason had with Mark Paslawsky and what it means for him.
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References

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