President Biden's administration will allow the 12th Ukrainian National Guard Brigade "Azov" to use American weapons.
Points of attention
- The administration of US President Joe Biden cancelled the ban on the supply of American weapons to the Ukrainian National Guard Brigade "Azov".
- The Azov Brigade passed a thorough inspection by the US State Department, as a result of which they were allowed to use American weapons.
- The "Azov" Brigade was created in May 2014 as a regiment in the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) and is now the 12th Special Purpose Brigade.
- In the Russian Federation, Azov is accused of alleged Nazism and terror acts, but according to the US State Department, no evidence of violations by the brigade has been found.
- Ukrainian service members of "Azov" actively participated in defending Mariupol and became a symbol of public resistance to Russia's military aggression.
The US allowed the supply of weapons to the "Azov" Brigade
This decision was made after the inspection by the US State Department of the brigade, which is now part of the National Guard of Ukraine.
The publication notes that the military unit was banned from using American weapons about ten years ago because American officials decided that some of its founders held racist, xenophobic and ultra-nationalist views.
The ban was provided by the so-called "Leahy Act", which prohibits the provision of American military aid to foreign units that have committed serious human rights violations. Former US Senator Patrick Leahy authored the legislation.
After a thorough inspection, the 12th special purpose brigade "Azov" passed the inspection of the US State Department, the department said in a statement. The State Department found "no evidence" of such violations, writes The Washington Post.
The representative of the State Department did not specify to the publication when exactly the ban will be lifted and the military will be able to receive weapons.
Neither "Azov" Command nor the Ukrainian government have commented on this information.
What is known about the "Azov" Brigade?
The "Azov" battalion was created in May 2014 in Berdyansk as a unit of the special-purpose police patrol service. The first commander of "Azov" was Andrii Biletskyy. It ceased to exist in 2014. In September 2014, "Azov" was reorganised. It became the Special Operations police regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then the Special Ops unit of Ukraine's National Guard. From February 2023, it became the 12th NGU Brigade.
All Russian propaganda media accused this Ukrainian unit of "fascism" and "Nazism", and part of this misinformation leaked to the West; in particular, it was repeated by some American politicians.
In August 2022, Russia recognised "Azov" as a "terrorist organisation"; its activities were prohibited in this country. According to Russian legislation, members of such organisations can be sentenced to 10 years to life imprisonment.
"Azov" was one of the central defence forces of Mariupol. As of February 24, 2024, according to the Association of Families of Defenders of Azovstal, about 900 service members of Azov were in Russian captivity. Some of the captured fighters in Russia have already been convicted or are being tried for allegedly committing crimes against the civilian population.
