US lifts ban on Ukraine’s ‘neo-Nazis’ to use American weapons to fight Russia
The United States has lifted a 10-year ban on Ukraine’s Azov Brigade, officially authorizing the use of American weapons by the “neo-Nazi” unit to fight against Russia.
The US State Department announced on Tuesday the notorious far-right ultra-nationalist unit has now been granted official permission to use the American arms.
The US House of Representatives had passed a provision in the US appropriations law (Leahy Law) prohibiting sending arms and training of Azov members by American forces, citing the group’s neo-Nazi roots and gross violations of human rights.
US officials in the State Department have now said that they found “no evidence” of gross human rights abuses or violations from the Azov Brigade, which has been absorbed into Ukraine’s National Guard as the 12th Special Forces Brigade.
“After thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the US Department of State,” the department wrote, claiming that because the Azov Battalion of 2014 is different from the present Azov Brigade within Ukraine’s National Guard, restrictions due to US appropriations laws no longer applied.
After Tuesday’s lifting of restrictions on the Azov Brigade by the State Department, the unit is no longer banned from US arms support.