The US has lifted the ban on the delivery of weapons to the Azov Battalion, a former militia that is now part of the Ukrainian Army, as confirmed this Wednesday (12) by the US State Department to the EFE Agency.
An American diplomacy spokesperson explained that, after carrying out a review, Joe Biden’s government “found no evidence of serious human rights violations” committed by the Battalion.
The 1997 Leahy Act prohibits the provision of U.S. military assistance to foreign military units facing “serious allegations of human rights violations.”
The spokesperson did not give details about when the investigation began or the veto on the supply of American weapons to this Ukrainian unit.
The Azov Battalion was born as a volunteer militia in 2014, founded by Ukrainian nationalists to fight pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.
Named after the Sea of Azov, the Battalion gained fame for recapturing the city of Mariupol from pro-Russian forces in June 2014.
Later, it was incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard, became professional and its current leaders deny links with any type of extremism.
The unit stopped using the “Wolfsangel”, used by the SS in Nazi Germany, as its insignia, and replaced it with three aligned swords that form the Ukrainian state symbol, the trident.
For Russia, the Azov Battalion is a “neo-Nazi militia” and the Kremlin frequently uses this accusation to justify its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.
The State Department spokesman, however, discredited what he considered “Russian propaganda” and stated that the current Azov Battalion has nothing to do with its nationalist origins. (With EFE Agency)
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