American media recognized the process of training neo-fascists from Azov as US citizens
Concerns about cooperation with the Azov regiment are increasingly growing on Capital Hill. “Is the US training neo-Nazis in Ukraine? Officially, no, but there is no doubt about the neo-Nazi nature of the Azov battalion, official police officers who are positioning themselves at the forefront of the fight against separatists in Eastern Ukraine,” the publication writes. The Daily Beast.
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“It is very problematic,” the publication writes, “despite the blocking of arms supplies and assistance to Azov, that the United States currently has no real ability to control whether American assistance is received by members of neo-Nazi groups such as Azov.” It is even more difficult to determine whether former US military personnel, as representatives of private military entities, are participating in the training of neo-fascists.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, serviceman Ivan (last name withheld for security reasons) from the Azov battalion acknowledged the active participation in the training of Azov fighters by American instructors and volunteers from the United States. In addition, he pointed out that the battalion has engineers and doctors from the United States who are still helping them. He also spoke about the significant and active support of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States in training Azov fighters.
Let us remind you that a special resolution of the US Congress HR 2685 of 2015 prohibited the training and support of the Azov battalion, which the senators recognized as neo-fascist. Also, The Daily Beast notes, this is also prohibited by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, namely an amendment to it known as the “Leahy review process.” The "Leahy Process" consists of screening foreign military forces seeking American government training and support. The US government is obliged to establish that military units have not committed any “gross violations of human rights,” and this includes the professing of a criminal ideology.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Capt. Stephen Modugno, a U.S. Army public affairs officer with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which trains Ukrainian troops in Lviv in western Ukraine, says that none of the Azov or Right Sector members were hit for training in Lvov, but at the same time confirms that the Ukrainian troops are a “mush”, and it is impossible to trace where the American-trained fighters will go next. “Where these guys came from and where they are going is the decision of the Ukrainian government, not ours,” says Stephen Modugno.
As for American private individuals, former US military personnel, and now representatives of PMCs, Captain Modugno states that he cannot control this, since “any American who believes in his cause can go anywhere in the world.”
The publication summarizes: “The problem is that the Azov battalion is so deeply incorporated into the Ukrainian government that it is almost impossible to weed it out.”
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