1/10
Hollywood movies – that’s how the Azov unit advertises itself on YouTube.
Chiara SchlenzEditor News
For months, Ukrainian and Russian troops have been fighting fiercely for the city of Bakhmut. In the middle of this “meat grinder”, as the battlefield is called there by Russian soldiers, is the “Third Separate Assault Brigade Azov”.
The young men and women present themselves skilfully on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Hollywood-ready flicks feature battle scenes, interviews with commanders pondering their tactical successes, and banging music – you want to please. No wonder: the unit was only founded in the summer, the operations in Bachmut began at the end of the year – and recruits are still being sought.
Behind the unwieldy name is a Ukrainian unit that has primarily played a propaganda role in the war so far: the Azov regiment. The Volunteer Union, once the military wing of the nationalist Azov movement, has been fighting alongside regular Ukraine units in Donbass against Russian paramilitaries since 2014. Last May, three months after the Russian invasion, the unit at the Azov Steelworks near Mariupol was completely crushed and surrendered.
The Azov regiment
The Azov Regiment is a volunteer battalion that has been fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014. In the same year it was integrated as part of the National Guard and is now considered an elite unit.
The UN Human Rights Council accuses Azov of human rights violations between 2014 and 2017. In addition, the regiment has been criticized for previous and ongoing connections to right-wing extremist groups and individuals.
In Russia, the Azov regiment’s nationalist ties serve to justify the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin is trying to justify the war with the “denazification of Ukraine”.
Azov soldiers at a parade in Kyiv.
AFP
The Azov Regiment is a volunteer battalion that has been fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014. In the same year it was integrated as part of the National Guard and is now considered an elite unit.
The UN Human Rights Council accuses Azov of human rights violations between 2014 and 2017. In addition, the regiment has been criticized for previous and ongoing connections to right-wing extremist groups and individuals.
In Russia, the Azov regiment’s nationalist ties serve to justify the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin is trying to justify the war with the “denazification of Ukraine”.
Now the unit is being reorganized. This time, however, it is said to be integrated into the regular Ukrainian armed forces, according to Azov leader Andrii Biletskyi himself. Probably an attempt to sever ties to the roots of the association. Nevertheless, the right-wing extremist reputation that the Azov regiment has remains a stale aftertaste. A cause for concern?
“Azov has a certain charisma”
Michel Wyss (35), an expert on proxy warfare among non-state actors at the ETH Zurich Military Academy, tells Blick that this depends on the power of the brigade within the Ukrainian army. It could be that the Azov units will retain some autonomy.
For Wyss, the question arises here, among other things, whether the members of the brigade are trained in compliance with international law of war in addition to combat training and how effectively they report to the supreme command of the Ukrainian army.
However, recruitment does not seem to be going well – after all, they have been trying to find enough men since the summer. Polish extremism expert Kacper Rekawek suspects that the brigade is less attractive to potential recruits. Although the connection to the Azov name is attractive, the nationalist core will probably be lost. Wyss considers this consideration to be plausible. “Azov has deliberately cultivated its own reputation as an elite unit, it is quite plausible that this has a certain charisma.”
Fighters play into the hands of Russian propaganda
But even if the Azov fighters continuously deny their connections to right-wing extremist and neo-Nazi areas – they cannot be denied. The ETH expert on Blick: “However, it can be stated that many Azov commanders, despite protestations to the contrary, continue to have close ties to the civil, right-wing extremist Azov movement.”
External Content
Would you like to see this supplementary content (Tweet, Instagram, etc.)? If you agree that cookies are set and data is thereby transmitted to external providers, you can allow all cookies and display external content directly.
The Azov movement originally emerged from the Azov Battalion and is well networked. And not just in the Ukraine, according to Wyss. Connections to right-wing extremists throughout Europe and as far away as the USA are also known.