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Azov fighters are Ukraine's greatest weapon and may be its greatest threat
The battalion's far-right volunteers' desire to 'bring the fight to Kiev' is a danger to post-conflict stability

Walker, Shaun
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/azov-far-right-fighters-ukraine-neo-nazis

Publisher:  Guardian
Date Written:  10/09/2014
Year Published:  2014  
Resource Type:  Article

The Azov battalion, a volunteer militia that has been doing much of the frontline fighting in Ukraine's war against Russian-speaking rebels in the east, may pose a serious threat to the Ukrainian government and the state itself. Many of the battalion's members belong to neo-Nazi groups or adhere to neo-Nazi ideology.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

there is an increasing worry that while the Azov and other volunteer battalions might be Ukraine's most potent and reliable force on the battlefield against the separatists, they also pose the most serious threat to the Ukrainian government, and perhaps even the state, when the conflict in the east is over. The Azov causes particular concern due to the far right, even neo-Nazi, leanings of many of its members.

Dmitry claimed not to be a Nazi, but waxed lyrical about Adolf Hitler as a military leader, and believes the Holocaust never happened. Not everyone in the Azov battalion thinks like Dmitry, but after speaking with dozens of its fighters and embedding on several missions during the past week in and around the strategic port city of Mariupol, the Guardian found many of them to have disturbing political views, and almost all to be intent on "bringing the fight to Kiev" when the war in the east is over.

The battalion's symbol is reminiscent of the Nazi Wolfsangel, though the battalion claims it is in fact meant to be the letters N and I crossed over each other, standing for "national idea". Many of its members have links with neo-Nazi groups, and even those who laughed off the idea that they are neo-Nazis did not give the most convincing denials.

"Of course not, it's all made up, there are just a lot of people who are interested in Nordic mythology," said one fighter when asked if there were neo-Nazis in the battalion. When asked what his own political views were, however, he said "national socialist". As for the swastika tattoos on at least one man seen at the Azov base, "the swastika has nothing to do with the Nazis, it was an ancient sun symbol," he claimed.

The battalion has drawn far-right volunteers from abroad, such as Mikael Skillt, a 37-year-old Swede, trained as a sniper in the Swedish army, who described himself as an "ethnic nationalist" and fights on the front line with the battalion.

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