Ukraine’s Azov Brigade has cleared a review hurdle and is eligible to receive weapons and training from the United States.
A new analysis found no evidence that the unit, a part of Ukraine’s National Guard, has committed gross human rights violations, the U.S. State Department confirmed to The Epoch Times in a June 11 statement.
“After thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the U.S. Department of State,” a spokesperson said.
Foreign military and police units must first undergo a process known as Leahy vetting before they can receive U.S.-funded assistance. The purpose of this vetting process is to ensure compliance with the Leahy Law, a set of statutes prohibiting U.S. assistance to foreign security units when there is credible information that the unit has committed a “gross violation of human rights,” such as arbitrary killing, torture, or rape.
There are two similar yet specific sets of Leahy regulations for the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Both sets allow funding to resume after the foreign government takes steps to correct the violations and hold perpetrators accountable.
The Azov Brigade, which is now eligible for the same access to U.S. arms as other Ukrainian units, took to social media to celebrate the successful vetting.
“Eligibility for US assistance will not only increase Azov’s combat effectiveness but, most importantly, will help save the lives and health of the brigade’s personnel,” the unit said in a June 11 post on X.
“This is a new page in the history of our unit. Azov is becoming more professional and more effective in defending Ukraine against the invaders.”
The brigade evolved from the Azov Battalion, a nationalist volunteer militia whose insignia includes a white sun wheel and a black Wolfsangel.
The use of such symbols has caused alarm in both the West and Russia, and President Vladimir Putin’s administration has accused Ukraine of embracing neo-Nazism.
Formed in 2014, the battalion fought alongside Ukrainian government forces against Russian-backed separatists for control over the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. It was formally incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard later that year under new command and was redesignated as the Azov Regiment.
In February 2022, Russia escalated what had already been eight years of conflict into what Mr. Putin called a “special military operation” to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. The Azov Regiment soon emerged as a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance through its defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine.
Mariupol fell after a nearly three-month Russian siege when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered the soldiers defending the city, who faced a severe shortage of food, water, and medical supplies, to surrender. About 43 Azov members were returned to Ukraine during a prisoner exchange a month later, but an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are still being held by Russia.
A year into the war, in February 2023, the unit was expanded and reformed into a brigade under the Offensive Guard program.
Celebrated by Kyiv as heroes, the Azov Brigade has been portrayed by Moscow as a neo-Nazi group committing atrocities against the pro-Russian population of Donbas. In 2022, Russia’s highest court designated the unit a terrorist group.
“It’s worth noting that Russian disinformation has actively worked to discredit Special Forces Azov Brigade,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times, stressing that the brigade and the original militia it grew out of have “significantly different” composition.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, repeated the neo-Nazi accusations in response to Azov passing the Leahy vetting.
“This, in turn, once again confirms the relevance of our concerns in connection with the tendency of the creeping spread of neo-Nazi ideas in the world,” Mr. Peskov said at a press briefing, the Russian state media agency TASS reported.
