Azov, the far right and ‘national myths’ in Ukraine
How important are fascist groups such as the Azov regiment in Ukraine? Sam Ord looks at how they fit a wider pattern
Far right group Azov march in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2019 (Picture: Goo3)
SOCIALIST WORKER
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is generally right wing and supports US imperialism, however he is not a Nazi. But Ukrainian far right groups, quite small in themselves, prosper because of an explosion of “patriotic” ideas pushed out by the government.
Like many other countries, including Britain, Ukraine’s rulers seek to create a sense of national unity. They elevate ideas and figures from the past who can serve as a glue to bind people together and motivate them against Vladimir Putin. That has accelerated sharply since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014.
As a Ukrainian novelist wrote in The Economist magazine this month, “The country used to lack national myths. Now they’re everywhere.” In 2014 the Ukrainian state deliberately launched a new campaign to emphasise its hostility to the Russian regime.
Building on a process that began earlier, this meant rehabilitating “anti-Soviet” figures who are beloved by the fascists such as Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. His Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists was responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews and Poles.
Already by 2009 there were 30 Bandera monuments in western Ukraine and four museums. In 2010 Bandera was named a “Hero of Ukraine” by the outgoing right wing president Viktor Yushchenko. This was part of emphasising ethnic divisions as austerity bit after the financial crisis.
He was stripped of the title in 2011 under Yushchenko’s replacement, president Viktor Yanukovych. But when Yanukovych was removed by the Maidan revolt in 2014, Kiev’s city council renamed the city’s Moscow Avenue as Stepan Bandera Avenue. This followed the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine.
Last year another local council renamed a major stadium in western Ukraine after Roman Shukhevych. He was a leading figure in SS Schutzmannschaft 201. This was a Ukrainian battalion formed by the Nazis that participated in the genocide of Jews in Belarus and hunted down anti-Nazis in Ukraine.
Banderist symbols such as the red and black flag have become “simple” national images and can be seen on some pro‑Ukraine demonstrations now. It’s therefore not surprising that groups such as the fascist Azov regiment can grow. It was set up in 2014 with fascist and white supremacist subgroups integrated within it. Its leading figure was the Nazi and antisemite Andriy Biletsky.
Former president Petro Poroshenko described Azov as “our best warriors” as they were recruited into the National Guard of Ukraine in November 2014. Azov members have launched attacks on Roma, LGBT+ people and migrants. But they have access to the weaponry that Nato has poured into the country and are nestling closer to the centre of government.
Ukraine—the shadow of 2014 on today’s war
Olena Semyanka, a leading figure in the Azov regiment’s political arm, told Die Zeit magazine that she was now an assistant to a deputy of Zelensky’s ruling party. She added that she was supporting him in building up the International Legion of volunteers to come from across the world to fight.
In 2015 Canada and the US announced that their own forces would not support or train the Azov regiment, citing its Nazi ties. But the following year the US lifted this ban under pressure from the Pentagon.
Another militarised far right movement is Right Sector, which also fights against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. As the Russian aggression escalated, Right Sector grew with support from the top.
In December last year Right Sector member Dmytro Kotsyubaylo was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine by Zelensky. There are such close links between Right Sector and the Ukrainian state that it is normal for schoolchildren to visit its training camps. Here they are given a version of Ukrainian history that venerates figures such as Bandera. Strengthening a right wing version of history has had very dangerous results.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is generally right wing and supports US imperialism, however he is not a Nazi. But Ukrainian far right groups, quite small in themselves, prosper because of an explosion of “patriotic” ideas pushed out by the government.
Like many other countries, including Britain, Ukraine’s rulers seek to create a sense of national unity. They elevate ideas and figures from the past who can serve as a glue to bind people together and motivate them against Vladimir Putin. That has accelerated sharply since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014.
As a Ukrainian novelist wrote in The Economist magazine this month, “The country used to lack national myths. Now they’re everywhere.” In 2014 the Ukrainian state deliberately launched a new campaign to emphasise its hostility to the Russian regime.
Building on a process that began earlier, this meant rehabilitating “anti-Soviet” figures who are beloved by the fascists such as Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. His Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists was responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews and Poles.
Already by 2009 there were 30 Bandera monuments in western Ukraine and four museums. In 2010 Bandera was named a “Hero of Ukraine” by the outgoing right wing president Viktor Yushchenko. This was part of emphasising ethnic divisions as austerity bit after the financial crisis.
He was stripped of the title in 2011 under Yushchenko’s replacement, president Viktor Yanukovych. But when Yanukovych was removed by the Maidan revolt in 2014, Kiev’s city council renamed the city’s Moscow Avenue as Stepan Bandera Avenue. This followed the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine.
Last year another local council renamed a major stadium in western Ukraine after Roman Shukhevych. He was a leading figure in SS Schutzmannschaft 201. This was a Ukrainian battalion formed by the Nazis that participated in the genocide of Jews in Belarus and hunted down anti-Nazis in Ukraine.
Banderist symbols such as the red and black flag have become “simple” national images and can be seen on some pro‑Ukraine demonstrations now. It’s therefore not surprising that groups such as the fascist Azov regiment can grow. It was set up in 2014 with fascist and white supremacist subgroups integrated within it. Its leading figure was the Nazi and antisemite Andriy Biletsky.
Former president Petro Poroshenko described Azov as “our best warriors” as they were recruited into the National Guard of Ukraine in November 2014. Azov members have launched attacks on Roma, LGBT+ people and migrants. But they have access to the weaponry that Nato has poured into the country and are nestling closer to the centre of government.
Ukraine—the shadow of 2014 on today’s war
Olena Semyanka, a leading figure in the Azov regiment’s political arm, told Die Zeit magazine that she was now an assistant to a deputy of Zelensky’s ruling party. She added that she was supporting him in building up the International Legion of volunteers to come from across the world to fight.
In 2015 Canada and the US announced that their own forces would not support or train the Azov regiment, citing its Nazi ties. But the following year the US lifted this ban under pressure from the Pentagon.
Another militarised far right movement is Right Sector, which also fights against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. As the Russian aggression escalated, Right Sector grew with support from the top.
In December last year Right Sector member Dmytro Kotsyubaylo was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine by Zelensky. There are such close links between Right Sector and the Ukrainian state that it is normal for schoolchildren to visit its training camps. Here they are given a version of Ukrainian history that venerates figures such as Bandera. Strengthening a right wing version of history has had very dangerous results.
CNN promotes neo-Nazi commander from Ukraine’s white-supremacist Azov regiment
Top US media outlet CNN promoted a commander from Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov regiment, failing to mention his militia’s white-supremacist ideology. Azov then proudly shared the video on its official Twitter account.
By Benjamin Norton
Top US media outlet CNN promoted a commander from Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov regiment, failing to mention his militia’s white-supremacist ideology. Azov then proudly shared the video on its official Twitter account.
By Benjamin Norton
PRO RUSSIA LEFT
Leading US media network CNN has promoted a commander of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov regiment, without mention of his hate group’s extremist views.
In 2014, a gang of Ukrainian neo-Nazis formed a militia called the Azov Battalion. These far-right extremists played a leading role in a violent US-sponsored coup that overthrew Ukraine’s democratically elected government, which they had deemed too “pro-Russian.”
The new pro-Western regime that was installed in Kiev after the 2014 “Maidan” coup waged a brutal war on Russian-speaking Ukrainian separatists in the east of the country. Kiev turned to fascist gangs like Azov to help strengthen its weak military forces.
Azov was officially incorporated into the Ukrainian state. It became a regiment in the National Guard, while still maintaining its white-supremacist ideology and use of numerous Nazi symbols.
This March 21, the neo-Nazi Azov militia posted a video on its official Twitter account of one of its commanders being promoted on CNN.
CNN had republished a video clip of Azov Major Denis Prokopenko, who was helping lead the fight against Russian troops in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The major US media channel described the fascist extremist simply as a “Ukrainian military commander who has been defending the city from the siege.”
CNN subsequently quoted this neo-Nazi commander in two different print reports, which failed to disclose his far-right politics.
A March 19 CNN report titled “Mariupol residents are being forced to go to Russia, city council says” quoted him simply as “Major Denis Prokopenko, from the National Guard Azov Regiment,” with no further details.
A similar CNN article from earlier that same day cited the same quote, but did mention euphemistically in passing that the “Azov Battalion is an ultra-nationalist militia that has since been integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces.”
With state backing, Azov preaches a white-supremacist ideology and uses Nazi symbols like the German Wolfsangel and racist black sun. THE BLACK SUN IS A PAGAN SYMBOL APPROPRIATED BY RIGHT WING EURO NATIONALISTS
The Nazi symbols used by Ukraine’s Azov Battalion
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, neo-Nazi extremists from Azov and other far-right militias have played a leading role in the fight.
NATO member states have provided Azov with weapons and training. And Ukraine’s National Guard proudly tweeted a video of an Azov Nazi greasing his bullets with pig fat to kill Russian Muslims, whom the Ukrainian state institution demonized as “orcs.”
CNN is far from the only Western media outlet that has actively promoted neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
Many major media outlets amplified a propaganda photo shoot that was staged by Azov before the Russian invasion.
US government-sponsored network PBS even heroized notorious neo-Nazi Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of the Ukrainian city Konotop, in a softball interview in which he demonized Russians as “cockroaches.”
PBS did not mention the “heil Hitler” symbol on Semenikhin’s car, or even the portrait of Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera that was on the wall behind the extremist in the video.
Leading US media network CNN has promoted a commander of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov regiment, without mention of his hate group’s extremist views.
In 2014, a gang of Ukrainian neo-Nazis formed a militia called the Azov Battalion. These far-right extremists played a leading role in a violent US-sponsored coup that overthrew Ukraine’s democratically elected government, which they had deemed too “pro-Russian.”
The new pro-Western regime that was installed in Kiev after the 2014 “Maidan” coup waged a brutal war on Russian-speaking Ukrainian separatists in the east of the country. Kiev turned to fascist gangs like Azov to help strengthen its weak military forces.
Azov was officially incorporated into the Ukrainian state. It became a regiment in the National Guard, while still maintaining its white-supremacist ideology and use of numerous Nazi symbols.
This March 21, the neo-Nazi Azov militia posted a video on its official Twitter account of one of its commanders being promoted on CNN.
CNN had republished a video clip of Azov Major Denis Prokopenko, who was helping lead the fight against Russian troops in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The major US media channel described the fascist extremist simply as a “Ukrainian military commander who has been defending the city from the siege.”
CNN subsequently quoted this neo-Nazi commander in two different print reports, which failed to disclose his far-right politics.
A March 19 CNN report titled “Mariupol residents are being forced to go to Russia, city council says” quoted him simply as “Major Denis Prokopenko, from the National Guard Azov Regiment,” with no further details.
A similar CNN article from earlier that same day cited the same quote, but did mention euphemistically in passing that the “Azov Battalion is an ultra-nationalist militia that has since been integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces.”
With state backing, Azov preaches a white-supremacist ideology and uses Nazi symbols like the German Wolfsangel and racist black sun. THE BLACK SUN IS A PAGAN SYMBOL APPROPRIATED BY RIGHT WING EURO NATIONALISTS
The Nazi symbols used by Ukraine’s Azov Battalion
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, neo-Nazi extremists from Azov and other far-right militias have played a leading role in the fight.
NATO member states have provided Azov with weapons and training. And Ukraine’s National Guard proudly tweeted a video of an Azov Nazi greasing his bullets with pig fat to kill Russian Muslims, whom the Ukrainian state institution demonized as “orcs.”
THIS IS A DEBUNKED STORY SPREAD BY THE RIGHT WING UNDER TRUMP ABOUT GENERAL PERSHING KILLING MUSLIMS IN THE PHILLIPINES
Many major media outlets amplified a propaganda photo shoot that was staged by Azov before the Russian invasion.
US government-sponsored network PBS even heroized notorious neo-Nazi Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of the Ukrainian city Konotop, in a softball interview in which he demonized Russians as “cockroaches.”
PBS did not mention the “heil Hitler” symbol on Semenikhin’s car, or even the portrait of Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera that was on the wall behind the extremist in the video.
