Azov Battalion

Members of the Azov Battalion with the NATO flag (left) Azov mascot (center) and Swastika (right). The NATO flag represents globalism; the Cyrillic A3OB in the center spells AZOV; and the swastika represents the NATO and globalists' Russophobic allies in Ukraine. A Ukrainian court found elements in the Ukrainian government colluded with the DNC to defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

The Azov Battalion began as a volunteer formation in May 2014 shortly after the Maidan coup, and in late 2014 was brought within the Ukrainian National Guard by the Maidan regime, and in 2015 became a regiment. From the outset it aroused considerable attention, including abroad, due to the pronounced neo-Nazi views of its leaders and members. 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.” 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." On February 24, 2022 President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced Operation Denazification to clean out the fascist battalions which have waged war on the civilians of the Donbas republics since 2014.

Real concern arose at the parliamentary elections in October 2014, with a number of leaders of volunteer battalions, including Andriy Biletsky and Ihor Mosiychuk from the Azov Battalion standing for election. After months of war against the Donetsk and Luhansk independent republics, any person seen as a Ukrainian military hero was effectively guaranteed a seat in parliament. This was the case with both Mosiychuk and Biletsky. Mosiychuk’s parliamentary career has been filled with scandal, and he is currently facing criminal charges. Biletsky has taken a lower rofile, and was recently on record trying to deny – with zero credibility - that he had once called for a crusade by the white race against Semitic subhumans.

Given the alleged collaboration in Bila Tskerkva, it is perhaps of relevance that Vadim Troyan, Deputy Commander of Azov and, like Biletsky, a former member of the neo-Nazi ‘Patriot of Ukraine’, was appointed Head of the Kyiv Regional Police in November 2014.

As well as questionable activities during the Crimea Blockade, Azov Battalion activists have been accused of involvement in a racist attack on football fans during the Champions League football match in Kyiv on October 20, 2015 and it was their aggression and threats that prevented a remembrance gathering on January 19, 2016 for slain anti-fascist and anti-Maidan lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova.

In 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a provision blocking any training of Azov members by American forces, citing its neo-Nazi connections. The House had previously passed amendments banning support of Azov between 2014 and 2017, but due to pressure from the Pentagon, the amendments were quietly lifted. This was protested by the Simon Wiesenthal Center which stated that lifting the ban highlighted the danger of Holocaust distortion in Ukraine.

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.