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>  It's founder, [[Andriy Biletsky]] famously described the Azov Battalion's role in the [[Revolution of Dignity]], "we have fun killing."<ref>https://youtu.be/0C1O2WWqyPQ?t=1035</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>  It's founder, [[Andriy Biletsky]] famously described the Azov Battalion's role in the [[Revolution of Dignity]], "we have fun killing."<ref>https://youtu.be/0C1O2WWqyPQ?t=1035</ref>

The [[New Zealand mosque shooting|Christchurch, New Zealand killer]] who murdered 51 [[Muslim]] worshippers in 2019 received training from the Azov Battalion and wore their insignia on his flak jacket during the shooting.<ref>https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-the-transnational-network-that-nobody-is-talking-about/</ref><ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/asia/christchurch-mass-shooting-extremism.html</ref>  The Buffalo, New York supermarket shooter who killed 10 civilians in May 2022 likewise employed the Azov Battalion's Black Sun logo on the cover of his 180 page manifesto.<ref>https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1525601782197817344</ref> <ref>https://www.scribd.com/document/574156945/Payton-Gendron-Manifesto#download</ref>

The [[New Zealand mosque shooting|Christchurch, New Zealand killer]] who murdered 51 [[Muslim]] worshippers in 2019 received training from the Azov Battalion, and wore their insignia on his flak jacket during the shooting.<ref>https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-the-transnational-network-that-nobody-is-talking-about/</ref><ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/asia/christchurch-mass-shooting-extremism.html</ref>  The Buffalo, New York supermarket shooter who killed 10 civilians in May 2022 likewise employed the Azov Battalion's Black Sun logo on the cover of his 180 page manifesto.<ref>https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1525601782197817344</ref> <ref>https://www.scribd.com/document/574156945/Payton-Gendron-Manifesto#download</ref>

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.

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.