(NewsWorthy.news) – The US State Department confirmed on June 10 that it is lifting restrictions on aid to Ukraine’s controversial Azov Brigade, which now has access to weapons provided by the US as well as the training given by US military personnel. The ultra-nationalist group was founded by volunteers in 2014 in a climate of increasing tensions between Kyiv and Moscow. Commentators suggested when the group was formed that the far-right group’s presence could threaten long-term security in Ukraine.
The US had previously cited concerns about the “Neo-Nazi” ideology of some of the Azov Battalion’s founding members as its reason for banning the provision of weapons and training to the unit. The US State Department said it had thoroughly reviewed the decision and found no evidence of human rights abuses carried out by the Azov Brigade, which has been absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard.
Supposed denazification has long been used by the Kremlin to attempt to justify its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, however, have a history of antisemitic remarks; in 2015 the then-leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, called the pro-Western leaders of Ukraine “miserable representatives of the great Jewish people”. In October 2023, Jews traveling from Tel Aviv were greeted by a mob shouting antisemitic slogans in Makhachkala airport, Dagestan.
Though Nazi-associated symbols on the Azov Brigade’s banners have attracted attention, the ultra-nationalist ideology of Ukraine’s controversial militia is largely inspired by the ideals of Stepan Bandera, who led Ukrainian Nationalists in WWII. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought both Nazis and Soviets, but collaborated with the Third Reich when it suited its agenda. The group tortured and murdered 100,000 Poles in the 1943 Volhynia Massacre. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commemorated the tragedy with his Polish counterpart in July 2023.
Bandera has still been praised by many as a “hero” in Ukraine, and by 2009 there were 30 monuments to him in the west of the country. Bandera also inspired the Right Sector, a coalition of Russian nationalist groups. Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh was strongly rumored in 2021 to have been appointed adviser to Ukraine’s armed forces, but Ukraine’s then-Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny did not admit to Kyiv’s alleged collaboration with Yarosh.
News on Yarosh and Right Sector since the 2022 invasion has been scarce compared to the widely publicized Azov Brigade, whose significant role in the conflict highlights the difficulties Zelenskyy would face during peacetime in keeping far-right militia under control.
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