Washington says \u2018no evidence\u2019 of abuses in unit, which was originally set up as a volunteer force in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States has lifted a ban on providing weapons and training to the Azov brigade, a controversial Ukrainian military unit that played a central role in the 2022 defence of the southeastern city of Mariupol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US State Department said in a statement on Tuesday that there had been a \u201cthorough review\u201d of the current Azov brigade and \u201cno evidence\u201d of human rights violations had been found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington stressed the current unit was different from the volunteer militia that was set up in 2014, drawing fighters from far-right circles and criticism for some of its tactics. The US had banned the regiment from using its weapons, citing the neo-Nazi ideology of some of its founders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a new page in the history of our brigade,\u201d Azov said of the US decision in a statement on social media. \u201cObtaining Western weapons and training from the United States will not only increase the combat ability of Azov, but most importantly, contribute to the preservation of the lives and the health of personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Azov brigade, which was absorbed into Ukraine\u2019s National Guard as the 12th Special Forces Brigade, is among the country\u2019s most effective and popular fighting units and its current members reject accusations of extremism and any ties with far-right movements. Washington said that the original militia had been \u201cdisbanded in 2015\u201d and a State Department spokesman also noted Azov\u2019s \u201cheroic role\u201d in the 2022 battle for Mariupol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lifting of the ban is likely to bolster the brigade\u2019s fighting capacity at a challenging time during the war against Russia\u2019s invasion, with Ukraine struggling amid persistent shortages of ammunition and personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Azov soldiers played a key part in the defence of Mariupol, holding out for weeks in the Black Sea port city\u2019s vast steel works despite being low on ammunition and under relentless attack from Russian forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city fell to Russia in May 2022, but Azov\u2019s soldiers have been hailed as heroes, becoming a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the face of Russian aggression. Each week, there are rallies calling for the release of hundreds of Azov POWs who remain in Russian captivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow has repeatedly portrayed the Azov as a Nazi group and accused it of atrocities, but has provided little evidence to support its allegations. It designated the unit a terrorist group in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSuch a sudden change in Washington\u2019s position shows that it will do anything to suppress Russia\u2026 even flirting with neo-Nazis,\u201d said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The brigade grew out of a group called the Azov Battalion, one of many volunteer regiments established to fight Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Years before Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Human Rights Watch raised concerns about Azov, writing that credible allegations of egregious abuses had been made against its fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since its first commander left in October 2014, Azov has been \u201ccleansing itself\u201d of undesirable elements, according to its website. It has also tried to recast its public image to that of an effective and skilful fighting force, and has shunned connections with controversial figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington says \u2018no evidence\u2019 of abuses in unit, which was originally set up as a volunteer force in 2014. The United States has lifted a ban on providing weapons and training to the Azov brigade, a controversial Ukrainian military unit that played a central role in the 2022 defence of the southeastern city of Mariupol….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-azov-battalion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}