Changes

According to [[NBC News]] the '''Azov Battalion''' was “founded by an avowed [[white supremacist]] who claimed [[Ukraine]]’s national purpose was to rid the country of [[Jews]] and other inferior races.”<ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ukraine-has-nazi-problem-vladimir-putin-s-denazification-claim-war-ncna1290946</ref>  ''[[The Guardian]]''  reported in 2015, "while the Azov and other volunteer battalions might be Ukraine's most potent and reliable force on the battlefield against the [Donbas] separatists, they also pose the most serious threat to the Ukrainian government, and perhaps even the state."<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/azov-far-right-fighters-ukraine-neo-nazis</ref>   

According to [[NBC News]] the '''Azov Battalion''' was “founded by an avowed [[white supremacist]] who claimed [[Ukraine]]’s national purpose was to rid the country of [[Jews]] and other inferior races.”<ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ukraine-has-nazi-problem-vladimir-putin-s-denazification-claim-war-ncna1290946</ref>  ''[[The Guardian]]''  reported in 2015, "while the Azov and other volunteer battalions might be Ukraine's most potent and reliable force on the battlefield against the [Donbas] separatists, they also pose the most serious threat to the Ukrainian government, and perhaps even the state."<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/azov-far-right-fighters-ukraine-neo-nazis</ref>   

After the incorporation of the Azov Battalion into the Ukrainian military, Azov leaders were dispersed throughout Ukrainian military and security services.

After the incorporation of the Azov Battalion into the Ukrainian military, Azov leaders were dispersed throughout Ukrainian military and security services, and into its bureaucratic and political structure.

In 2019, the Soufan Center, created by former FBI agent Ali Soufan, who was involved in a number of counter-terrorism cases, warned about the connection between the Azov Battalion and white nationalists. “In Ukraine, the Azov Battalion has recruited foreign fighters motivated by [[white supremacy]] and neo-Nazi beliefs, including many from the West, to join its ranks and receive training, indoctrination and instruction in irregular warfare,” the report outlined.<ref>https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-officials-who-met-with-ukrainian-unit-linked-to-neo-nazis-feared-exposure-by-news-media-documents</ref>

In 2019, the Soufan Center, created by former FBI agent Ali Soufan, who was involved in a number of counter-terrorism cases, warned about the connection between the Azov Battalion and white nationalists. “In Ukraine, the Azov Battalion has recruited foreign fighters motivated by [[white supremacy]] and neo-Nazi beliefs, including many from the West, to join its ranks and receive training, indoctrination and instruction in irregular warfare,” the report outlined.<ref>https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-officials-who-met-with-ukrainian-unit-linked-to-neo-nazis-feared-exposure-by-news-media-documents</ref>