Changes

The FBI indictment details RAM's meetings with one of the key figures in Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion militia.  In August 2018 RAM members published photos on [[Instagram]] showing themselves meeting with Olena Semanyaka,<ref>https://www.illiberalism.org/olena-semenyaka-the-first-lady-of-ukrainian-nationalism/</ref> the leader of the International Department of the Ukrainian National Corps, which functions as a civilian arm of the Azov Battalion. RAM’s Gab account provides additional details of the group’s foray through Ukraine in May 2018. The trip centered around the Paneuropa conference, an event that brings together fascists from across the West to encourage international collaboration. It is hosted at the Reconquista Club in [[Kyiv]].  The visit, which followed on the heels of meetings with white supremacists in [[Germany]] and with [[Italy]]’s fascist CasaPound party, highlighted the centrality of Ukraine to international fascist organizing. Further, the Paneuropa conference, where fascists build connections across national borders, revealed the Azov Battalion as much more than a militia fighting for control of a sliver of contested territory in eastern Ukraine.  Azov leaders openly acknowledge that were it not for the Obama-backed Maidan coup, their organization would never have developed into the powerhouse it is. As Semanyaka said this year, according to a summary:

The FBI indictment details RAM's meetings with one of the key figures in Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion militia.  In August 2018 RAM members published photos on [[Instagram]] showing themselves meeting with Olena Semanyaka,<ref>https://www.illiberalism.org/olena-semenyaka-the-first-lady-of-ukrainian-nationalism/</ref> the leader of the International Department of the Ukrainian National Corps, which functions as a civilian arm of the Azov Battalion. RAM’s Gab account provides additional details of the group’s foray through Ukraine in May 2018. The trip centered around the Paneuropa conference, an event that brings together fascists from across the West to encourage international collaboration. It is hosted at the Reconquista Club in [[Kyiv]].  The visit, which followed on the heels of meetings with white supremacists in [[Germany]] and with [[Italy]]’s fascist CasaPound party, highlighted the centrality of Ukraine to international fascist organizing. Further, the Paneuropa conference, where fascists build connections across national borders, revealed the Azov Battalion as much more than a militia fighting for control of a sliver of contested territory in eastern Ukraine.  Azov leaders openly acknowledge that were it not for the Obama-backed Maidan coup, their organization would never have developed into the powerhouse it is. As Semanyaka said this year, according to a summary:

{{quotebox-float|"The Ukrainian nationalist movement would have never reached such a level of development unless the war with Russia had begun. For the first time since the [[Second World War]], nationalist formations have managed to create their own military wings, the brightest example being the Azov regime of the National Guard of Ukraine.”<ref>https://thegrayzone.com/2018/11/15/blowback-how-us-funded-fascists-in-ukraine-mentor-us-white-supremacists/</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|"The Ukrainian nationalist movement would have never reached such a level of development unless the war with Russia had begun. For the first time since the [[Second World War]], nationalist formations have managed to create their own military wings, the brightest example being the Azov regime of the National Guard of Ukraine.”<ref>https://thegrayzone.com/2018/11/15/blowback-how-us-funded-fascists-in-ukraine-mentor-us-white-supremacists/</ref>}}

 

[[Max Blumenthal]] wrote in 2018,<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2018/11/17/blowback-us-funded-ukraine-neo-nazis-mentor-us-white-supremacists/</ref> "Azov boasts combat experience, unlimited access to light weapons, and supporters honeycombed throughout the upper echelons of Ukraine’s military and government. No longer just a militia, the organization has developed into a political juggernaut that can overpower Ukraine’s government. Two years ago [2016],<ref>https://korrespondent.net/ukraine/3685301-azovtsy-pryhrozyly-fyzycheskoi-raspravoi-nardepam</ref> the group flexed its muscle on the streets of Kiev, bringing out 10,000 supporters to demand that the government bend to their will or face a coup."  Ivan Katchanovski, a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa and leading investigator of the 2014 [[Odessa Trade Unions House massacre]] where at least 46 [[Russian]]s were burnt alive by Ukrainian Nazis, said “With its military experience and weapons, Azov has the ability to blackmail the government and defend themselves politically against any opposition. They openly say that if the government will not advance an ideology similar to theirs, they will overthrow it.”

[[Max Blumenthal]] wrote in 2018,<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2018/11/17/blowback-us-funded-ukraine-neo-nazis-mentor-us-white-supremacists/</ref> "Azov boasts combat experience, unlimited access to light weapons, and supporters honeycombed throughout the upper echelons of Ukraine’s military and government. No longer just a militia, the organization has developed into a political juggernaut that can overpower Ukraine’s government. Two years ago [2016],<ref>https://korrespondent.net/ukraine/3685301-azovtsy-pryhrozyly-fyzycheskoi-raspravoi-nardepam</ref> the group flexed its muscle on the streets of Kiev, bringing out 10,000 supporters to demand that the government bend to their will or face a coup."  Ivan Katchanovski, a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa and leading investigator of the 2014 [[Odessa Trade Unions House massacre]] where at least 46 [[Russian]]s were burnt alive by Ukrainian Nazis, said “With its military experience and weapons, Azov has the ability to blackmail the government and defend themselves politically against any opposition. They openly say that if the government will not advance an ideology similar to theirs, they will overthrow it.”