At the UN Security Council, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya requested a moment of silence to pray for those killed, while Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said that the remembrance should include people who have died in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, referring to the ethnic Russians that live there and have been under almost constant attack since 2014 from the Nazi paramilitary. Putin has accused the Ukrainians of genocide against the ethnic Russians in the Donbas. 2016 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Azov soldiers had raped and tortured civilians during Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine.
In response to the current conflict in Ukraine, Facebook will allow its billions of users to praise the Azov Battalion, which had previously been banned from being freely discussed under the company's Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy. The armed militia is known for its hardcore right-wing ultra-nationalism and neo-Nazi ideology. Azov soldiers march and train wearing uniforms bearing icons of the Third Reich, and in 2010, the battalion's first commander and a former Ukrainian parliamentarian, Andriy Biletsky, stated that Ukraine's national purpose was to "lead the white races of the world in a final crusade " against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans]."
Facebook had categorized the Azov Battalion alongside the Islamic State and the Ku Klux Klan because of their propensity for "serious offline harms" and "violence against civilians." The Facebook memo provides two examples of posts that would not be allowed under the new policy: "Goebbels, the Fuhrer, and Azov, all are great models for national sacrifices and heroism" and "Well done Azov for protecting Ukraine and its white nationalist heritage."
European far-right militia leaders have been busy on the internet over the past few days asking for funds, recruiting fighters, and planning for travel to the front lines in Ukraine to fight the Russians. Militia leaders in France, Finland, and Ukraine have urged their supporters to join the fight according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a private organization that specializes in tracking extremist groups.
Rita Katz, the director of SITE, said that numerous far-right white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups throughout Europe and America had shown support for Ukraine, and were seeking to join paramilitary units in battling Russia. She said these fighters wanted combat training and were ideologically driven. French far-right groups were mobilizing as well.
A 2020 report from the West Point US Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center said, "US-based individuals have spoken or written about how the training available in Ukraine might assist them and others in their paramilitary-style activities at home." A 2018 FBI affidavit said that Azov "is believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations," including members of the white supremacist Rise Above Movement, prosecuted for the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally.
Washington has been assisting Nazis in Ukraine through Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations because they are seen as a threat to Russia.
In late 2021, only the United States and Ukraine voted against a UN draft resolution "combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism." Both countries have consistently voted against this resolution every year since 2014, which coincides with the anti-Russian Nazi militias formed in Ukraine, and supported by the US.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
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