There is an elephant in the room which some media outlets have mentioned and certainly is a part of Putin's accusation of “Nazis” in the Ukrainian government. The elephant? Special Operations Detachment “Azov”, better known as the Azov Battalion.
Formed in 2014, the Azov Battalion is a right-wing, neo-Nazi infantry unit. The manpower of the Azov Battalion has been put as low as 300 personnel and as much as 900 men and women. However, this count was from 2015 and it is likely much larger today. It also includes many foreign fighters from the U.S. and Europe that follow a fascist ideology. The Azov Battalion is, today, classified as a regiment and has a regimental HQ, two commando battalions, the 5th. Tank Battalion, a field artillery battery, and other supporting units such as engineer, signal, maintenance, and reconnaissance companies and even a NBC defense platoon among others. Azov Battalion detachments are stationed in Kyiv, Berdiansk, and Mariupol.
The Azov Battalion first saw action in the Donbas War which commenced on April 6, 2014 and, even today, hasn't ended though a ceasefire went into effect in September 2014. In that same month, the Azov Battalion entered into the National Guard of Ukraine. In 2016, the political leadership split from the military component of the battalion and formed the National Corps political party. Today, the National Corps has between 10,000 to 15,000 members but in the 2019 elections, the party failed to reach 5% of the popular vote and so there are no National Corps representatives in the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada). In local elective offices, the National Corps has 23 elected officials, a mere .04% of all available seats (158,399 country-wide).
The Azov Battalion remains a unit within the National Guard and is currently on the front lines. This fact is being played up by Russian state-controlled news agencies as evidence that the Ukrainians have “Nazi battalions” fighting for them and a reason to overthrow the Ukrainian government despite the fact there are no National Corps members in parliament. A recent Twitter post appears to show Azov fighters soaking their bullets in pig fat with a message to Muslim Chechen soldiers that are deployed by Russia into Ukraine to return home, that there will be no heaven for them.
The photograph here dates from 2014 but readily shows the adoption of German World War II military regalia by members of the unit. This includes the wearing of a field cap styled after the West German model that, itself, was derived from the World War II M43 feldmütze. The badge on the front of the cap is styled after the badge used by the wartime Schutzmannschaft, or Auxiliary Police, which were local police formations created by the Germans in occupied territories which included Ukraine. Here, the badge uses a trident rather than a swastika. The patch on the man's equipment pouch reads “Azov” (A3OB) and utilizes the “black sun” (a sun wheel made up of twelve sig runes) and the Wolfsangel heraldic charge. Both were adopted by the Nazis in World War II as part of their symbology and both remain in use today by various neo-Nazi groups. Also, the man is wearing German “Flecktarn” camouflage.
It should be noted that the U.S. attempted to classify the Azov Battalion as a terrorist organization but failed to get the unit listed. The Azov Battalion has been linked to war crimes such as looting, torture, and unlawful detention by members of the unit during the time the Azov Battalion was deployed during the Donbas War. It has been said the Azov Battalion is anti-Semitic but the unit has a number of Jewish fighters in its ranks and also Jewish members of the political party.
Originally posted on February 28, 2022.
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