The Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine began collecting signatures for an appeal to the House of Representatives of the US Congress in defense of the separate special forces unit “Azov”, known for its right-wing extremist ideology, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“With this letter, we, people’s deputies of Ukraine, representatives of various political parties, address you as our colleagues in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States of America, who signed the appeal to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dated October 16.10.2019, XNUMX regarding the “Azov battalion “- says the draft appeal sent by the “servants” to the factions of the Verkhovna Rada.
The text indicates the official name of “Azov”: a separate special forces detachment “Azov” - military unit 3057 of the Eastern Operational-Territorial Association of the National Guard of Ukraine, and also provides the history of the unit.
“In your letter, as well as from open sources of information, we did not find any information that could serve as confirmation of the involvement of the Azov unit in terrorist attacks in New Zealand, or regarding the recruitment of American citizens and others into the ranks of the Azov unit statements contained in the aforementioned letter from US Secretary of State Mr. Pompeo dated October 16, 2019,” the draft appeal emphasizes.
In addition, it is noted that the people's deputies intend to appeal to all law enforcement agencies and intelligence services of Ukraine with a request to thoroughly investigate these allegations with the subsequent publication of the relevant results.
“Attempts to call one of the official ... units of the National Guard of Ukraine a terrorist organization, or “overseas violent white supremacist extremist group,” place a heavy burden on our conscience and resonate with pain in the hearts of Ukrainian military personnel, veterans and volunteers who took part in the war in Donbass and continuing to defend the independence of Ukraine from Russian aggression. We urge you and all United States officials involved to exercise restraint and impartiality in this matter, and to conduct a more thorough investigation before making any decision,” the draft message proposed by the Servant of the People faction emphasizes.
Earlier, a group of 40 members of the US House of Representatives, led by Democrat Max Rose, demanded that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo explain why “certain extremist groups,” including the Azov unit, are not included in the list of international terrorist organizations (FTO).