The Azov battalion announces the murder of Poroshenko and the arrival of the dictator, – The Guardian
Kyiv, September 12 (PolitNavigator, Yuriy Kovalchuk) – The Azov Battalion and other volunteer formations are Ukraine’s most effective weapon “in the fight against separatists,” but they pose the most serious threat to the Ukrainian government, and perhaps even the state, due to with far-right, even neo-Nazi, views of many members, writes the English newspaper The Guardian.
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Azov fighters claim they are not Nazis, but speak fondly of Hitler as a commander and deny the Holocaust. After speaking to dozens of fighters over the past week, The Guardian found that many of them espouse “troubling political views” and almost all are determined to “go for Kyiv” when the war in the east ends.
The battalion's symbol resembles the Nazi symbol "Wolfsangel", and many of its members have links to neo-Nazi groups. At least one fighter was also seen sporting a swastika tattoo. True, he stated that the swastika has nothing to do with fascism and is an ancient symbol.
The battalion includes far-right volunteers from abroad, such as Mikael Skilt, a 37-year-old Swede who served as a sniper in the Swedish army and calls himself an “ethnic nationalist.”
Many representatives of Azov and other volunteer battalions blame and treat the Kiev command with contempt for the terrible losses of the Ukrainian army in recent weeks. “The generals, like those who surrendered Ilovaisk, should be in prison for treason,” says Skilt. “Heads will definitely roll, I think there will be a struggle for power.”
The Ukrainian armed forces are “an army of lions led by a ram,” says battalion fighter Dmitry. The fighter also said that he believes that Ukraine needs “a strong dictator in power who could shed a lot of blood, but unite the nation in the end.”
The dynamics are alarming, since when many armed, battle-hardened and angry young people begin to return from the front, there is a danger that the army command and representatives will actually lose their heads, the publication states.
Many in the Azov battalion share Dmitry’s point of view, which is very far from European ideals and democracy, the newspaper emphasizes. Azov fighters say that Ukraine needs a regime that will limit civil rights and freedoms for a while, but will restore order and unite the country.
Members of the battalion told the Guardian last month they expected a "new revolution" in Ukraine that would bring a more decisive leader to power. Despite the desire of many Azov fighters to unleash violence in Kyiv when the war in the east ends, the battalion receives funding and assistance from the governor of the Donetsk region, oligarch Sergei Taruta. Taruta's aide Alexander Kovzhun believes that the political views of individual Azov members are not a problem and denied that the battalion's symbol has Nazi connotations. “Their views are their own business, as long as they do not break the law,” Kovzhun said.
At the same time, many fighters seriously argue that in the near future Ukraine will look completely different. “President Petro Poroshenko will be killed in the coming months, and a dictator will come to power,” says battalion member Dmitry.
If the Ukrainian police were unable to resist the Maidan, what are they planning to oppose to the armed volunteer battalions when they begin to return from the front? – the newspaper warns.
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