By Slavisha Batko Milacic
OpEds
Members of the Azov Battalion (actually a regiment-size force). The author fails to mention that this unit was originally financed and used as a personal gang by the notorious Ukrainian/Israeli oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. The rise of fascist organizations with the help of Western intel services and Jewish billionaires is a story that the media—and the Israeli press—refuse to highlight. Meanwhile, the Jewish Diaspora in the EU and North Aerica remains stoutly silent about this abomination.
Since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, political organisations associated with neo-Nazis infiltrated Ukrainian mainstream politics as the Ukrainian government sent troops to try to crush the Donbass uprisings by force.
As Ukraine waged war against breakaway forces in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, the Neo-Nazi Groups in Ukraine gained notoriety for their belligerent rhetoric towards the population of the country’s east, as well as for eagerly participating in the civil war.
The Azov Batallion was originally a volunteer militia formed in May 2014 shortly after the coup in Kiev. (1)
The unit's first commander was right-wing nationalist Andriy Biletsky, who led the paramilitary national socialist group called “Patriot of Ukraine” and was the founder of a neo-Nazi group, the Social-National Assembly (SNA) in 2008.
In 2010, Biletsky, a former parliamentarian, apparently said that Ukraine was meant to "lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen (subhumans)"by reports in a spate of Western mainstream outlets.
Azov readily entered the fray as nationalists and neo-Nazis began illegally seizing power across Ukraine, clashing with opposing forces of the so-called "anti-Maidan" movement.
Ukrainian Nazis are anything but shy about their allegiance to fascism.
Events in Odessa on 2 May 2014 became one of the defining moments of that period, as street fighting between neo-Nazis and anti-Maidan protesters prompted the latter to barricade themselves in a local trade union's house.
With backing from the new Ukrainian authorities, the encircled building was set ablaze with petrol bombs. Almost 50 people were killed, either burned alive or while jumping to their deaths from windows to escape the flames. Some 250 other protesters were injured in the horrific events.
Azov took part in subsequent hostilities in Donbass and was incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine in November 2014, although its members continued to wear neo-Nazi and SS-like symbols and regalia and openly express neo-Nazi views.
Their logo echoes the Wolfsangel, one of the original symbols used by the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. Representatives of the Azov Battalion, however, have claimed their symbol is an abbreviation for the slogan "National Idea" in Ukrainian.
Ukrainian authorities did not bother to conceal the fact that in 2014, Azov comprised neo-Nazi-leaning volunteers from countries such as Sweden, Italy, France, Belarus, Canada, and Slovenia.
Despite the adoption of the 2015 Minsk Accords that were aimed at ending the civil war by reintegrating the Donbass into Ukraine in exchange for constitutionally-guaranteed autonomy, Kiev refused to implement a peace deal. Azov members took an active part in Donbass hostilities.
Despite supporting violent Nazi gangs like Azov, the Wikipedia says that Kolomoyski is a prominent supporter of Ukraine's Jewish community[53] and the president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine.[54] In 2010, he was appointed as the president of the European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC)[55] after promising the outgoing president he would donate $14 million,[56] with his appointment being described as a "putsch"[54][55] and a "Soviet-style takeover"[57] by other ECJC board members. After several ECJC board members resigned in protest, Kolomyski quit the ECJC and, together with fellow Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Rabinovich, founded the European Jewish Union.[56]
In 2016, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) accused(1) the Azov Battalion, officially upgraded to a regiment in January 2015, of committing war crimes such as mass looting, unlawful detention, and torture. Currently, the Azov "Special Operations Detachment" is engaged in the Ukrainian army’s counter-reconnaissance and special weapons operations.
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against a number of fighters from Azov units for crimes such as kidnapping, torture, use of prohibited means, and methods of warfare.
Another infamous group is the Right Sector*, originally set up as an alliance between Ukraine’s nationalist groups in November 2013. It subsequently announced that they had formed a special “Donbass” battalion for its paramilitary operations in the breakaway region.
Ex-Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh described himself as a follower of the notorious Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. The group has vehemently advocated a forceful settlement of the Donbass crisis, rejecting a negotiated approach. It took a similar stance regarding Crimea, which became part of Russia in a referendum held in March 2014 in which nearly 96 percent of Crimeans voted to rejoin the country. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the decision made by the Crimean people was conducted in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. At the same time, NATO illegally bombed Serbia and occupied the southern Serbian province of Kosovo. Even today, 23 years after the NATO aggression on Serbia, the Serbian army and police cannot return to Kosovo, even if, according to UN Resolution 1244 (which Washington also voted for), Serbia has the right to return its state institutions to Kosovo.
At the same time, the Russian population in Ukraine suffered unprecedented terror. Ukrainian fascists even went so far as to burn living Russians on crosses. (1)
According to the latest information, a total of 10,000 people were killed during the civil war in Donbas, although some estimates go up to 14,000 killed. Of that number, 149 Russian children from Donbas were killed, while over eight hundred children were wounded or underwent some other form of torture.(2)
A few days ago, the Russian army brought the captured Ukrainian soldiers in front of the monument to the innocently killed Russian children, so that the Ukrainian soldiers can see what their army has been doing for 8 years.(3)
Russia has been warning Kiev for 8 years that it must stop killing Russian civilians and especially Russian children in Donbas. And that basic human rights of Russians in Ukraine must be respected. However, no one in Kiev wanted to hear it.
Did anyone think that Russia's patience was boundless? Did anyone think that Russia would watch indefinitely peacefully as innocent Russians were burned alive on crosses, in the 21st century, in Europe? While innocent Russian children are being killed, just because they are Russian children?
Well, you are looking at the answer to that question now! And let it be clear to everyone, the Russian peacekeeping operation which is currently underway in Ukraine will make sure that Russian children in Ukraine are never again killed, just because they are Russian children!
(2) https://istinapravda1000.blogspot.com/2022/02/jecaj-majki-cuo-se-do-neba-ovo-su-deca.html
(1) Even the CIA-redacted Wikipedia gave this crook, Kolomoyskyi , a bad review. Imagine the US propaganda machine being alarmed at the level of corruption exhibited by Kolomoyskyi, this in a nation like America where billionaires do as they please and almost every institution is corrupt. Anyhow, this is what they said:
In 2019, Kolomoyskyi was included in the list of the 100 most influential Ukrainians by Focus magazine, taking the 3rd place.[14]
In 2021 the US banned him, and his family, from entering the country, claiming that he corruptly enriched himself as governor, and posed a serious threat to the future of the Ukraine.
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