What, after all, is the much-discussed Order of Azov?

There is a lot of talk about it early in the afternoon Order of Azov and its ideological background, on the occasion of the screening of videos in the Plenary Hall of the Greek Parliament, in which a Ukrainian fighter of the battalion appearedof Greek origin, to request the assistance of our country in order to expel the Russians from Mariupol and the other war zones.

The relevant video was shown in the context of the intervention of the Ukrainian president Zelensky in Parliament and immediately stirred up a storm of reactions as it was considered by many, inadmissible for members of a neo-Nazi organization to speak in our National Assembly.

So what is the much-discussed Order of Azov?; It is an extreme right-wing, voluntary military infantry unit, whose members (estimated at between 900 and 1,000) are supranationalists and are accused of embracing Nazi ideas of Aryan supremacy.

Their emblem is the Wolfsangel, the runic symbol used by various units of the German SS. The battalion has been accused from time to time before the outbreak of war in Ukraine of atrocities against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.

Its foundation

The unit was originally founded as a volunteer group in May 2014 by the supranationalist Patriot of Ukraine gang and the so-called neo-Nazi group, SNA (“National Socialist Assembly”). The unit was led by Andrei Bilietski, who served as head of both the Patriot of Ukraine and the SNA. In fact, in 2010 he stated that the national goal of Ukraine was “to lead the white tribes of the world to a final crusade Unt against the Untermenschen (s.s. of the lower tribes)”. He left the Order in 2014 as a Member of Parliament and remained in Parliament until 2019. In the meantime (October 2016), he had founded the far-right National Corps party, which was made up of Azov veterans.

It is worth noting that the German channel ZDF has shown images of battalion fighters wearing helmets with swastikas and pagan runes. However, the 2915 representative of the battalion Andriy Diachenko has stated that “only 10-20%” of the recruits are neo-Nazis “, attributing the neo-Nazi ideology to the deceived youth.

The unit was formally integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine on November 12, 2014, a few months after the recapture of the strategic port of Mariupol by Russian-backed separatists. “These are our best warriors,” said then-President Petro Poroshenko. In January 2018, the Battalion set up a militia unit, the National Druzhyna, to “restore” order in the capital, Kyiv. He also carried out pogroms against the Roma community and attacked members of the LGBTQ community.

What Putin is saying

Today, the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, cites as one of the reasons he launched military operations against Ukraine “de-Naziization” of that country by the Order of Azov.

Finally, it is worth noting that in 2016, Facebook first described Azov’s constitution as a “dangerous organization.” According to the company’s policy on dangerous individuals and organizations, the Order was excluded from its platforms in 2019. The group was included in a list of other extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and ISIS).

However, on February 24, the day Russia began its invasion, Facebook lifted its ban. According to the Facebook representative, “at the moment, we are making an exception, strictly in the context of the defense of Ukraine and the role of the battalion as part of the Ukrainian National Guard. “But we continue to ban any hate speech, hate speech, praise for violence, support or Azov’s constitution and any other content that violates our Community standards.”