Ros Atkins has been talking about Nazis in Ukraine and Russian propaganda for the BBC. He's either talking very quickly or it's been speeded up, but anyway, he's basically saying that while there is a problem, the far right in Ukraine have less support than eg Le Pen does in France, and that Putin and his cronies are making it out to have authoritative power it doesn't have. Interesting about the (brief) history of Azov batallion if true.
Ros Atkins on... Putin’s false Nazi claims about Ukraine
Yes I saw this yesterday. While it's true (and important to point out) that Ukraine's far right don't have influence over the government, I didn't think it was very responsible of him to downplay Azov so much (and not even mentioning the Right Sector which, imo, was the main far-right threat since 2014).
He seemed to suggest that Biletsky's 'leaving' Azov had somehow led to it's moderation. Biletsky didn't leave; he stopped being its commander when he was elected as a politician (politicians cannot serve in military or police forces). He's still the leader of National Corps (formerly known as Patriot of Ukraine and then Social-National Assembly) of which Azov is its paramilitary force. Other far-right political parties also established paramilitary forces in 2014 (e.g. Svoboda set up the Sich (C14) battalion and Right Sector set up the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps/Army). Also, I'm not sure this mere "10-20%" Nazi membership of Azov can actually be verified - how many EDL types say "we're not racist", for example?
In 2014 there were dozens of paramilitary forces established that played a huge role in preventing pro-Russian forces from taking over a wider area of the country (violent pro-Russian protests took part all across 'Novorossiya', and at that time, the Ukrainian military could only count on a few thousand soldiers). This included those far-right militias mentioned above, but also many other that were purely volunteer forces. Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky funded/armed these groups, presumably as he was terrified of what would happen to his business interests should the Russians get hold of them.
Eventually, with the exception of one of the Right Sector's paramilitary forces, these militias were mainly incorporated into the National Guard or the Special Tasks Police Patrol under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, headed by then minister Arsen Avakov (another oligarch). Avakov was also one of the founding members of the People's Front that formed a coalition with Petro Poroshenko's party to govern the country after the 2014 elections. The People's Front contains a 'military council' which includes the commanders (or former commanders) of various paramilitaries, including Andriy Biletsky of Azov. Azov has even been described as Avakov's personal army (altho they all deny this).
Kolomoisky (who funded Zelenskyy's presidential campaign) also founded a political party (or alliances of politicians between parties), UKROP (now know as For the Future). UKROP included Andriy Biletsky of Azov and Dmytro Yarosh from Right Sector. Kolomoisky's personal army is supposedly the Dnipro 1 battalion (again, denied by all). Members of this militia were suspected of occupying the building of Ukrnafta (an oil company) after the government passed legislation reducing Kolomoisky's influence in the company. Kolomoisky and Avakov supposedly have a working relationship with each other.
I think the occupation of the Ukrnafta building shows how these militias might be used by the oligarchs at some point in the future. Even tho they now only represent a tiny fraction of the forces fighting against Russia, I don't think the future threat they pose to the Ukrainian state should be underestimated.
I live in Colombia. I know what happens when the military, politicians and businessmen ally themselves with paramilitary groups they hope to control for their own purposes. They can justify it all they want, but it always ends the same.
At some point in the future, there will need to be a peace process which investigates the wars crimes not just of the politically motivated far-right militias, but all militias (including the pro-Russian ones) and these groups should be disbanded or made illegal. Otherwise, certain powerful people might use them to really create what Putin falsely accuses Ukraine of being today...
geohistory.today
