Winter 2025: Azov is Coming
At least 13 stories the media ignored about Ukraine’s most powerful neo-Nazis
Presented in chronological order:
‘The best concert in the history of the modern Black Metal scene’
Nazi pagan fighter addresses the UN Security Council
Azov in Davos for the World Economic Forum
British delegation meets with Azov battalion commander
Nazi propaganda wins award at Sundance Film Festival
Nazi propaganda brings Nazi fighters to Capitol Hill
Trudeau and Prince Harry embrace neo-Nazi veterans at ‘Invictus Games’
Standing ovation for neo-Nazi in Danish parliament
Former CIA director visits Azovite ‘Killhouse’
Three years of ‘deNazification’
Azov Brigade chief of staff resigns after telling Elon Musk to ‘fuck off’
Russian Nazis march in Berlin, and Azov recruits in Germany
British politicians welcome Azovites back to Parliament
‘The best concert in the history of the modern [National Socialist] Black Metal scene’ — ‘I have only one question for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine: WTF?’
DECEMBER 26 — Just as winter began, Russian Nazis spearheaded a National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) concert in a Kyiv bomb shelter. The organizers of “YuleNight” are associated with the Azov movement in Ukraine. The historian Marta Havryshko said that “about 700 passionate people” attended the event, “who couldn’t help but perform Hitler’s salute during the festival.”
‘DAY OF THE DEAD’ — It was around this time that Andriy Biletsky, the neo-Nazi leader of the Azov movement and commander of its 3rd Assault Brigade in the Ukrainian Ground Forces, led the Azovites’ annual “Day of the Dead” ceremony. During that event, organized by the ideological service of Biletsky’s unit, his commanders burned a Viking warship, as if to send their fallen fighters to Valhalla. In the coming days, Biletsky voiced approval for a ceasefire.
‘ARMY.INFORM’ — In January, the information agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry interviewed Alexei Levkin, the leader of two bands, “M8L8TH” (Hitler’s Hammer) and “Advlfcult” (Adolf Cult), that performed at “YuleNight.” Levkin is a pagan Azov ideologist from the “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK, Russkiy Dobrovol'cheskiy Korpus), which is subordinated to Ukraine’s military intelligence service, and in turn, the Ministry of Defense. “I have only one question,” Marta Havryshko commented. “WTF?” Levkin, on the other hand, taunted Havryshko, “the audience was delighted! an evening of international music that unites listeners regardless of nationality and borders!”
‘NATION EUROPA’ — Andriy Malkov from the 3rd Assault Brigade called “YuleNight” the “event of the year,” and gave thanks to RDK commander Denis “White Rex” Kapustin and M8L8TH bass player Yuriy “Doom” Pavlyshyn for organizing the show. “Doom,” a medic in the 3rd Assault Brigade, declared it “the best concert in the history of the modern Black Metal scene.” Malkov, Kapustin, Pavlyshyn, and Levkin appear to have been the main people behind last summer’s “Nation Europa” conference in Lviv, which aimed to launch a continental neo-Nazi network. Both of their events raise questions about the approval of Ukrainian military intelligence.
Nazi pagan fighter addresses the UN Security Council
JANUARY 13 — Valery Horishny, a senior sergeant and instructor of the 12th Special Forces “Azov” Brigade in the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU), landed in the United States with an O-type visa “for people with extraordinary ability or achievement in certain fields.” At the invitation of the British government, Horishny gave a speech at an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York. Later he traveled to Washington, listening to “My Native Land” by M8L8TH. “OUR ELEPHANT,” Alexei Levkin also taunted me online. Once again, we find fingerprints of Ukrainian military intelligence.
REMEMBER ‘YARILO’? — I wrote about this Nazi pagan Azov fighter once before, after he shared a stage with a Nobel Peace Prize winner in Ukraine last year. Valery Horishny’s call-sign “Yarilo” refers to an obscure Slavic god. Until September 2024, he spent over two years in Russian captivity after the NGU Azov Regiment surrendered in Mariupol. Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War—chaired by the Ukrainian military spy chief, Kyrylo Budanov, probably the most important patron of the Azov movement—organized this trip to the United States.
KUDOS FOR TEACHING NAZIS ENGLISH — Barbara Woodward, the Permanent Representative of the UK to the United Nations, introduced Horishny as “a former prisoner of war who was part of the defense of Mariupol in 2022, and before that, he was the manager of an educational youth and national project, and also an English teacher.” Here the British UN ambassador (perhaps unwittingly) made a reference to Horishny’s work for the National Corps, the political party of the Azov movement. The Azovite “School of Young Leaders” saw Horishny collaborate with Alexei Levkin, the Russian Azov ideologist, who is a leader of notorious NSBM bands and the Hitler-worshipping group, “Wotanjugend.”
NAZI PAGAN POETRY — Horishny, a self-described “adherent of the Native Faith,” has a poetry account on Instagram, which used to be public, but now is private. I archived a few poems from 2021, including one in English dedicated to Hitler: “You, my Love, I admire, And I’ll serve you, my Sire.” The Hitler-worshipping kind of neo-pagans associated with Wotanjugend and the Azov movement are obsessed with the alleged Aryan roots of Ukrainians. In a poem about war, Horishny said, “The trenches are a lot of work! The work of passionate people. The descendants of the Aryans work with the strength of formidable insurgents.” In another poem, he wrote, “Our ancestors — Aryan-Scythians — were philosophers, warriors, teachers,” and, “We are the children of Great Scythia, we pray to the Knife!”
NEXT STOP: WASHINGTON — From New York, Horishny flew to DC, where the BBC and Voice of America interviewed him. “Yarilo” took at least one meeting on Capitol Hill with Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), who chairs the U.S. Helsinki Commission. He also visited the State Department and the Netherlands’ embassy with Maksym Butkevych, a famous Ukrainian human rights activist who already received an “Anne Frank Special Recognition Award” from the Dutch embassy in Washington.
Azov in Davos for the World Economic Forum…again
JANUARY 21 — The day after Donald Trump returned to the White House, a pair of Azovites spoke at “Ukraine House Davos,” an annual side event at the World Economic Forum. Daryna Smolnikova, a medic in the NGU’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade, appeared alongside Vadym Mazevych, an officer from the Azov movement’s 3rd Assault Brigade in the Ukrainian army. These Azovites literally rubbed shoulders with George Soros’ heir at the event.
SO MUCH FOR ‘DEPOLITICIZATION’ — Smolnikova, a.k.a. “Rina Reznik,” is the head of the “Care Service” of the NGU Azov Brigade. “If the Western countries are preparing for a big war, they at least need to learn how to do it … and we have the experience now to share,” she said in Davos. Samolnikova used to serve in the Hospitallers Medical Battalion, which is affiliated with the far-right “Ukrainian Volunteer Army,” a Right Sector splinter group, but now she’s dating Azov Brigade deputy commander Illia Samoilenko, better known as “Gandalf.” Years before he visited Israel and attended the 2023 World Economic Forum, becoming the poster boy of his unit’s fake “depoliticization,” Samoilenko once told a Czech journalist, “I don’t believe in any holocaust, it’s just a story.”
British delegation meets with Azov battalion commander
JANUARY 23 — There are, of course, numerous Azov Battalions these days. British MP Ian Duncan Smith, former head of the Conservative Party, led a small delegation from the UK that visited Ukraine and met with Dmytro “Slip” Kukharchuk, the commander of a battalion in the 3rd Assault Brigade. Kukharchuk, a fanatic leader of the Azov movement in the Cherkasy region, operated a gym with a large Black Sun on the floor, like the Wewelsburg castle that Heinrich Himmler redesigned. His Azov battalion is represented by a pair of “Tyr” runes, which are “used widely as an indicator of Nazi views” in Ukraine (for example by Wotanjugend). He oversees multiple units with emblems referencing the Waffen-SS, in particular the Dirlewanger Brigade and Galicia Division. Kukharchuk said about this visit, “the unification of the conservative community at the international level will ensure the existence of the institution of traditional values as opposed to the leftist plague.”
‘SLIP’S’ TRIP — After Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Kukharchuk shared a picture of a Trump-signed MAGA hat he received from Ukraine-born Congresswoman Viktoria Spartz in 2022. A couple weeks later, “Slip” already made it to Washington with Kyrylo “Kirk” Berkal, another important Azovite. They visited the Pentagon, made speeches in front of the White House, joined the Helsinki Commission on Capitol Hill, and met with the International Republican Institute, which ironically lost its USAID funding this year. The day after the televised meltdown of US-Ukrainian relations in the Oval Office, Kukharchuk nevertheless sounded optimistic, because it presented “our alternative” as the path forward:
- Reform of the army. Because without it we will not survive.
- Our own powerful military-industrial complex. Because dependence is death.
- A real, not nominal, nation. Because otherwise we simply will not exist.
This is our chance. Yes, it will be difficult. But we have no other choice. And we’ve never had it.
NEW RECRUIT — Jack Lopresti, a Conservative politician who lost his seat in Parliament last year, joined the British delegation, but he wasn’t in the photo with Kukharchuk. After he got there, Lopresti announced that he’s joining the International Legion that belongs to Ukraine’s military intelligence service. Last year as the deputy head of the Conservative Party, Lopresti met with Yulia Fedosiuk, the far-right deputy head of the “Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families,” and he spoke at a London event that raised money for this organization which is a pillar of the “Azov Lobby.”
Nazi propaganda wins award at Sundance Film Festival
JANUARY 24 — I already wrote about 2000 Meters to Andriivka, but that was before the director won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. “When I’m going around the world, I keep hearing questions,” Mstyslav Chernov said at the festival. “How do Ukrainians feel? How do they feel about the land? I always want to give an answer but I never know what to say. So I go and I try to make a film about it.” Although it may sound well-intentioned, Chernov’s new documentary stars an openly neo-Nazi unit in the 3rd Assault Brigade. His last film, 20 Days in Mariupol, won an Academy Award.
Nazi propaganda brings Nazi fighters to Capitol Hill
FEBRUARY 9 — “We Were Recruits,” an Azovite documentary starring neo-Nazis in the 3rd Assault Brigade, made its US premiere on Capitol Hill. This screening brought three representatives of the 3rd Assault Brigade to Washington during a “Ukrainian Week” lobbying spree, including some notable neo-Nazis from the Azov movement who joined numerous meetings in DC.
‘SKHID’ — Last winter, the media told the story of Oleksandr Ivantsov, also known as “Skhid” (East), who fought in Mariupol with the NGU Azov Regiment. “He Was Ready to Die, but Not to Surrender,” said the New York Times. Ivantsov was one of the young Azov soldiers that signed up for a daring helicopter mission in the spring of 2022 to join his comrades at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol. Unwilling to join them in Russian captivity, he creeped 125 miles back to safety. Ivantsov found his way to a “Nachtigall” drone unit in the 3rd Assault Brigade, named after a Ukrainian nationalist battalion in the armed forces of Nazi Germany. “Be careful!” he warned after visiting Auschwitz in 2018. “The museum appeals more to feelings and emotions than to reason. So try to take everything critically. Before the trip, it is recommended to read biographies of the camp leaders, memoirs of prisoners, historians and Holocaust deniers.”
‘BORISFEN’ — Vladislav Sobolevsky, 36, is an important Azovite who joined “Skhid” in Washington. His call-sign “Borisfen” apparently refers to the “Aryan-Scythians” that Valery Horishny wrote about. Sobolevsky is a deputy commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade and top member of the Azov movement’s National Corps. In his youth, he was a football hooligan who joined the Kyiv-based “White Boys Club.” During the first “bloody winter” of 2013-14, he hunted “titushky” in the Ukrainian capital. The following spring, Sobolevsky joined the Azov Battalion, which became the Azov Regiment when it joined the NGU. By the end of 2014, “Borisfen” was the chief of staff of this openly neo-Nazi military unit that still had a Black Sun in its emblem. His retirement from military service in 2017 might have stemmed a notorious war crime that the BBC dismissed as Russian propaganda. That year on May 9, the Azov Regiment shelled a separatist Victory Day parade in the village of Bezimenne, using a 1944 Soviet field gun allegedly borrowed from a museum. It didn’t take long for a Russian hacktivist group to release documents (naming Sobolevsky) from an official Ukrainian investigation into Azov’s unauthorized use of artillery in this case.
‘NOT QUITE A PARTY’ — In a 2020 interview, as the first deputy head of the central headquarters of the National Corps, Sobolevsky laughed about that 2017 incident and said, “I haven’t gone anywhere, I’m just in the civilian part of the [NGU Azov] regiment.” (He was talking about the National Corps.) Furthermore, “I am glad that we are not quite a party, but a social movement with real membership. … We don’t even care about elections, we care about people who believe in our ideas and are ready to follow us.” Earlier that year, “Borisfen” was one of the leaders of an Azovite gang that violently shut down a public presentation of “the last Ukrainian peacemaker” Sergei Sivokho’s “National Platform for Reconciliation and Unity.” Sobolevsky insisted on a military offensive to “liberate” the separatist territories. Asked about his favorite books, he named some by German WWII generals, Erich von Manstein and Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand, as well as “Campaign in Russia: The Waffen SS on the Eastern Front,” by the Belgian Nazi leader Léon Degrelle.
‘MEETINGS MEETINGS MEETINGS’ — Marina Hrytsenko is a young foreign policy aide in Washington for Oleksandra Ustinova, the head of the liberal nationalist “Holos” faction in Ukrainian parliament. Hrytsenko met “Skhid” and “Borisfen,” apparently to lend her services for “Ukrainian Week.” They were joined by Holos MP Roman Lozynsky and Azov medic Viktoria Kovach, also from the 3rd Assault Brigade. Kovach’s medical service is evidently proud to include “Doom,” the bass guitar player in M8L8TH, and other hardcore neo-Nazis. Hrytsenko shared a group photo with these Azovites in Washington, and captioned a video on Capitol Hill, “meetings meetings meetings meetings.”
‘AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN’ — “Ukrainian Week” coincided with the annual National Prayer Breakfast, followed by a Ukrainian Prayer Breakfast the next morning. According to the New York Times, Ukraine sent “its largest-ever delegation” to this “gathering of politically influential Christian leaders in Washington.” At some point, Ukrainians took the stage, and the Azovites stood next to the podium. With the messages “Pray for Ukraine” and “Peace for Israel” behind them, representatives of the 3rd Assault Brigade held up a flag that is reportedly “associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government” since its adoption by “Stop the Steal” campaigners.
‘CAPTAIN UKRAINE’ — “We Were Recruits” director Lubomyr Levitsky says, “The stories of our [Azovite] heroes, who ride on American armor and hold American weapons, are skillfully told in the film and help U.S. government officials to see the results of their work and at the same time to experience the emotions felt by our defenders.” According to him, “Americans grew up with superheroes and I know for sure that if we can present our heroes in the right way, in the storytelling they are used to, they will be delighted.” Before the 2022 invasion, Levitsky was pursuing his dream of making a Hollywood superhero film, “Captain Ukraine.” (Ukrainian Wikipedia explains, “The source of the hero’s superpowers is the [‘ancient Ukrainian’] Trypillian culture and its secret rituals.”) So he says, “All contracts was signed, all budget in place, best team on board, press conference was scheduled on February 24. Meantime actors were on their way to Kyiv for casting. But everything changed overnight.” Now Levitsky makes war propaganda to present Ukraine’s most powerful neo-Nazis as real-life superheroes. He also works with Ukrainian intelligence agencies. For example, in January of this year, his team made a video for the Security Service of Ukraine “warning Ukrainian teens not to commit terrorist acts in service of Russia.”
Prince Harry and Trudeau embrace neo-Nazi veterans at ‘Invictus Games’ in Canada
FEBRUARY 8-16 — Prince Harry is credited with founding the Invictus Games, a yearly sporting event for wounded military personnel. This year an Azov veteran led Team Ukraine to its second best performance since the competitions began in 2014, and the British prince wore a patch from the Rubizh Brigade, which is an elite unit in Ukraine’s National Guard that includes a Nazi-infested battalion from the far-right “Svoboda” party. Justin Trudeau made a speech and thanked the Ukrainians at the closing ceremony. “You are an inspiration, and we will be with you every step of the way until victory!” Trudeau roared. “Slava Ukraini!”
CAPTAIN UKRAINE — Oleksiy Tiunin, Ukraine’s team captain at the 2025 Invictus Games, is a veteran of the 3rd Assault Brigade. He was one of the Azovites that golfed at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, DC last year. At that event, he wore a “Ukraine Fortress Europe” hat from a Ukrainian neo-Nazi brand featuring an “SS” on the back, above its symbol of a truncated swastika. Since last year, Tiunin has made videos asking random Ukrainians if they can identify various far-right military figures, such as Andriy Biletsky and other Azov commanders. He is pictured above with Trudeau and Harry.
NAZI VETERANS — At least one more Azov veteran and two other neo-Nazis participated in the 2025 Invictus Games for Team Ukraine. Oleksandr Androschuk, a former football hooligan, got his picture taken with the British prince. He joined the Azov Regiment about a decade ago, when it was still known as an openly neo-Nazi unit. Oleksiy Prytula might not have served with Azov, but in that case he became an Azov supporter who wears neo-Nazi brands, including a shirt with an SS helmet on it. Prytula awkwardly dapped up the Duke of Essex. Anatoliy Byrko might not have met British royalty. At one point, after wrapping himself in a Ukrainian flag, Byrko pumped his fist in the air, showing off his Black Sun and fractal swastika tattoos.
‘FREE AZOV’ — Prince Harry took pictures with several attendees wearing “Free Azovstal Defenders” shirts, made by the Azovite-led Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families. In one photo with him, they held a Ukrainian flag that said “Free Azov.” A few of the Ukrainian competitors posed with a “Free Azovstal Defenders” flag during the Invictus Games, and several joined a “Free Azov” demonstration in Vancouver.
Standing ovation for neo-Nazi in Danish parliament
FEBRUARY 19 — Dmytro Kanupier, a former POW from the Azov Regiment, addressed a public hearing of Danish parliament dedicated to the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kanupier spent two-and-a-half years in Russian captivity, until last September, he was freed in a prisoner exchange, despite being sentenced to 29 years in prison for alleged war crimes in Mariupol. Last month in Copenhagen he received a standing ovation from those present, which is said to have included “the parliamentary speaker, lawmakers and parliamentary faction leaders, Denmark’s ministers of defense and foreign affairs, the chair of the Committee on International Cooperation, and Ukraine’s Ambassador to Denmark.”
‘READ MEIN KAMPF’ — Kanupier turned out to be a neo-Nazi, not that anybody cared. He has been pictured wearing a patch of the notorious “Misanthropic Division,” and the featured quote on his former VK profile was “Read Mein Kampf.” This social media page said that he got an education in “NS/WP” (National Socialism/White Power) and listed Babiy Yar as his hometown. Kanupier also got a standing ovation at the Royal Danish Air Force academy. While updating his Instagram followers about this, he added music by “Nord Division,” a group of neo-Nazi rappers from the Azov movement who got their name from a Waffen-SS unit. According to “Events in Ukraine,” they “rap exclusively in Russian,” and the top Ukrainian general, Oleksandr Syrsky, recently “called them his favorite rap group,” because “they are very relevant.”
UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS — The Toronto-based Ukrainian World Congress announced that it “co-organized” Dmytro Kanupier’s speech in the Danish parliament, thanks to its cooperation with the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (CHTPW). Kanupier presented a book of pictures of his fellow Azovites in Russian captivity to Denmark’s Foreign Minister. This book, which his friend Valery Horishny also brought to the UN Security Council, was produced with assistance from the CHTPW.
Former CIA director visits Azovite ‘Killhouse’
FEBRUARY 20 — David Petraeus, a former CIA director and retired four-star US general, visited the 3rd Assault Brigade’s “Killhouse” drone pilot training grounds. A pair of neo-Nazi commanders from this famous Azov unit, Dmytro “Slip” Kukharchuk and Vladislav “Borisfen” Sobolevsky, hosted Petraeus shortly after he participated in a “Defense Tech Innovations Forum” in Kyiv. A couple days later in the Ukrainian capital, Petraeus said at a special event of the “Kyiv Security Forum” dedicated to the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, “We spent time on this trip with an assault brigade that you all will know well, at its training facility.” Last year, this former commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan predicted that Ukraine “will be the military-industrial complex, the most important one in all of Europe.”
‘FREEDOM SUMMIT’ — Last spring, David Petraeus and the Borderlands Foundation hosted the first annual “U.S.-Ukraine Freedom Summit” in Washington, including a charity golf tournament with Azov veterans. Who will be the lucky Nazis this year?
‘KILLHOUSE’ (2025) — Ukrainian director Lubomyr Levitsky, who apparently dreams of being the Michael Bay of Ukraine, has another project in the works, which happens to be named “KILLHOUSE.” His team appears to be making a pretty awful action-thriller movie starring the 3rd Assault Brigade and special forces from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. Levitsky presented a “concept teaser” at the Washington premier of “We Were Recruits.” According to him, the convoluted plot is “based on a real-life story about a unique rescue operation.” At least in the film, “This operation gains global attention and, with the involvement of U.S. intelligence, turns into a desperate struggle for life. The film will feature many real military personnel and veterans.”
KILLHOUSE ON WHEELS — Oleh Romanov, the neo-Nazi founder of the KillHouse drone school, and head of the anti-tank battalion in the 3rd Assault Brigade, met with the mayors of Lviv and Kyiv in January. Last year, Romanov visited Washington, where his family lives. This year in the Ukrainian capital, he unveiled a mobile “KillHouse” drone school with Mayor Klitschko. Around the first day of winter, this Azov battalion commander spoke (while wearing a neo-Nazi “Greater Ukraine” patch) at a “Victory Drones Defense Tech Bootcamp” organized by an Azov-friendly US-Ukrainian venture capital firm.
Three years of ‘DeNazification’
FEBRUARY 24 — NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division held an all-day event at its headquarters in Brussels, “Commemorating 3 Years of War in Ukraine.” Vladyslav Shatilo, an Azov veteran whose public Instagram account includes pictures of his friends making Nazi salutes, participated in the Monday event. Shatilo appears to be good friends with Dmitriy Krukovsky, the Hitler-tattooed leader of the Azov movement’s paramilitary “Centuria” organization for neo-Nazi youth. They have matching tattoos on their right thigh. On the third anniversary of Putin launching his “Special Military Operation,” a neo-Nazi from the Azov movement “discussed Ukraine” with the Chair of the NATO Military Committee and Deputy Secretary General of NATO. He arrived to NATO headquarters with a group that sponsors Ukrainian veterans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
COPENHAGEN — Meanwhile, another Azov veteran, Dmytro Kanupier (a neo-Nazi war criminal, according to Russia, that it released last year) spoke at a “pro-Ukraine” demonstration in the Danish capital. Nicolai Wammen, the Minister of Finance, made a speech, and so did the leaders of several opposition parties in parliament, including the Socialist People’s Party. Magnus Barsøe, a Social Democratic candidate for the EU Parliament, said he was “pissingly proud” (Pissestolt) that “one of the last fighters at the Azovstal steelworks camp and spoke at the demonstration on Monday. The Russians are always bashing the Azov battalion, but don’t listen. They do it because Azov is their toughest and most feared opponent.”
TEL AVIV — “Free Azov” and “Free Azovstal Defenders” signs have become a common-sight at “pro-Ukraine” demonstrations around the world, including the latest one in Israel. A couple days later, a charity yoga session at the Ukrainian cultural center in Tel Aviv raised money for a medical rehabilitation project that is partnered with the patronage service of the Azov movement.
NEW YORK — On the second floor of a progressive church in Manhattan, C-list actors performed a benefit reading for the Hospitallers Medical Battalion, affiliated with the far-right “Ukrainian Volunteer Army.” Ismenia Mendes performed as Olena Nikulina, “who has been waiting for her husband from Russian captivity for 2+ years.” That husband, Maksym Nikulin, is an Azov fighter who wore a patch of the Waffen-SS Galicia Division. In Times Square, people chanted “AZOV—STAL! AZOV—STAL!”
CHICAGO — Congressman Mike Quigley and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke at a Ukrainian-American rally. At one point they stood next to a group of soldiers and one man draped in a flag of the Kraken regiment, another neo-Nazi unit affiliated with the Azov movement, which is subordinated to Ukrainian military intelligence. Someone brought a banner from the 3rd Assault Brigade, possibly auctioned off by an Azov delegation that came to town in 2022.
DETROIT — Oleksandr Tkachenko, the founder of a local charity that supports the 3rd Assault Brigade, “led a group of hundreds of marchers through the heart of downtown Detroit.” Earlier this year, Tkachenko visited Washington, not to catch a glimpse of “the entire Ukrainian ‘beau monde’ [which] had flocked to Ukrainian Week,” but “rather to spend time with my friends” from the 3rd Assault Brigade: “Skhid” and “Borisfen.” If I remember correctly, the Azov banner in Chicago was from Tkachenko, who gave it to a local group.
ANTARCTICA — On February 23, the National Antarctic Research Center of Ukraine and NGU Azov Brigade published a video of an Azov flag being raised at the Ukrainian Vernadsky Research Base in Antarctica. Valeria “Nava” Subotina, who served in the press service of the Azov Regiment, said it was her dream to visit Antarctica before suffering a year in Russian captivity. In December 2024, thanks to Zelensky’s UNITED24 platform (and former astronaut Scott Kelly), her dream came true. She didn’t make it to the base, but her flag did.
DUBLIN — People chanted “Free Azov!” dozens of times.
Azov Brigade chief of staff resigns
FEBRUARY 26 — After ten years in the original Azov military unit, which grew from a battalion to a brigade under the National Guard, Bohdan Krotevych resigned as the chief of staff to the NGU Azov commander, just one week after he told Elon Musk to “fuck off” in a since-deleted comment. Krotevych gave thanks to those he served with over the years, and said about the Azov veterans who left the unit before him, “it is inspiring to see you now forming the backbone of some of the most capable combat units.” As one of the famous Azov commanders, Krotevych reassured his followers (“much to the delight of the inept MPs”) that he’s not going into politics. “My business is war, and I have no intention of leaving the military sector. Over time, I will be able to share more.” In the past, Krotevych has recommended that Azov recruits read a 1953 memoir by Nazi war criminal Albert Kesselring.
WHAT NEXT? — A couple days later, after the President of Ukraine’s humiliation at the White House, Krotevych made a viral post on “X” thanking Zelensky “for not allowing such words to be spoken about Ukraine. No one should raise their voice on Ukraine or speak so disrespectfully.” According to the journalist Leonid Ragozin, Krotevych “appears to be campaigning for Zelensky,” not because of this statement, but another, that Valery Zaluzhny, the popular former commander-in-chief, shouldn’t seek the presidency. Ragozin commented, “Far right figures like Krotevych are some of Ukraine’s most prominent media personalities commanding large online audiences. They will be co-opted by main political forces as the prospect of peace and elections looms.” Last year, Bohdan Krotevych became a notably outspoken figure in the military, and it emerged that a mysterious patron had donated expensive apartments in the center of Kyiv to half a dozen NGU Azov commanders, including him.
‘WOW’ — Meanwhile on February 28, Elon Musk posted, “Time to find out what really happened to the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to Ukraine…” Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist, chimed in, “It was laundered and a lot of it was used to fund NEO NAZIS in the Azov Battalion. We funded NAZIS.” Musk, a proud supporter of the “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) who largely turned “the digital town square” into a far-right echo chamber, simply responded “Wow.” If the Trump administration should become alarmed about neo-Nazis in Ukraine, that might provide an opportunity for people like Loomer, according to whom, “The CIA is funding a color revolution in the United States via Ukrainian Nazis and American Nazis who are being recruited by the CIA and FBI to fight overseas in the Azov Battalion and then come back to the US to instigate Nazi political movements in a psyop intended to make right wingers look bad.” Just the other day, an instructor from the Azov movement’s autonomous military school bemoaned that Ukraine’s chief supporters are liberals while “Trump and Putin directly discredit the right-wing agenda.”
And when we are supported by those who have different values, it means that we have to take advantage of it, use it, but not sell our own values in return — the ones that will become the trunks of the future Ukraine.
Russian Nazis march in Berlin as the Azov Brigade recruits for ‘International Battalion’
MARCH 1 — Representatives of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK), an openly neo-Nazi military unit linked to the Azov movement, are said to have literally formed the fifth column at a Russian opposition march in the German capital led by Yulia Navalnaya. Only the left-wing Berlin-based newspaper Junge Welt reported on this “Parade with Nazikorps,” and recent NGU Azovite efforts to recruit an “International Battalion.” German police, normally eager to beat up Berliners in the name of combatting “antisemitism,” did nothing to enforce German laws against displaying Nazi symbols (Azov wolfsangel doesn’t count?) and protesters masking their face, which several did, when some of the most dangerous neo-Nazis in the world decided to launch a new phase of their public activities.
MARCH ON BERLIN — Marta Havryshko observed that German neo-Nazis from “Der III Weg,” which co-sponsored last year’s “Nation Europa” conference, joined their Russian comrades at the march in Berlin, and the RDK “distributed leaflets featuring the numbers 88 (Heil Hitler) and 14 (a reference to the white supremacist slogan coined by David Lane).” Havryshko also said, “There is probably no greater concentration of Nazis in Ukraine’s military than in the RDK under HUR [military intelligence] supervision.” Leonid Ragozin commented, “The pro-Ukrainian neo-Nazis at the Russian opposition march in Berlin were led by Vasily ‘Cardinal’ Kiryushchenko, the son of the film director responsible for Servant of the People - the series that turned Zelensky into who he is today.”
INTERNATIONAL BATTALION — Once upon a time, concerns were raised in the Western media about foreign fighters joining Azov. This past February, more than half a dozen people from the NGU Azov Brigade and its new “International Battalion” made a “business trip” to Germany and Poland. Among them was Lt. Col. Yuri Chekh, the commander of the new unit, and his wife, Mariia “Gerda” Chekh, who traveled to Antarctica in December with the former Azov press officer. First they went to Berlin. According to Junge Welt, the delegation included a former instructor at the European Security Academy, which has trained numerous Azov fighters in Wrocław. Incidentally, Wrocław was their next stop, shortly before a screening of “We Were Recruits” in that city.
WHITE REX — The RDK commander, Denis “Nikitin” Kapustin, a.k.a. “White Rex,” grew up in Germany, but couldn’t make it to Berlin. In 2019 the German government banned him from most of Europe (the Schengen Area) “because of his efforts against the liberal democratic constitution.” Kapustin is one of the most notorious neo-Nazis in Europe, who helped the Azov movement get connected to likeminded people across the continent (and the world, in the case of Robert Rundo from California). Days later, Kapustin’s friends in the 3rd Assault Brigade wished him a happy birthday, such as Rodion Kudryashov, a deputy commander of the unit who led the central headquarters of the National Corps. Last year, CNN interviewed Kudryashov for a piece about the “Killhouse.”
CAFE KYIV — I’m almost done writing this, and I noticed that Serhiy “Jedi” Rotchuk, an officer in the NGU Azov Brigade, just made it to Berlin for this year’s “Cafe Kyiv” event in the German capital. “Jedi” is another Azovite who was invited to play golf near Washington last year. He also visited NATO headquarters. Like “Borisfen” and “Nikitin,” he’s interested in Léon Degrelle, the Nazi collaborator who led the far-right Rexist Party in Belgium. (According to Leonid Ragozin, after the RDK’s March 2023 raid into Russian territory, “White Rex” shared a quote from the Rexist leader.) Rotchuk’s oldest Instagram post (from 2019) shows him wearing a “Rock Against Communism” shirt by a NSBM brand affiliated with M8L8TH and Wotanjugend. He participated in two panel discussions, alongside politicians such as a German Green MP (Sebastian Schäfer) and Ukrainian military fundraiser (Serhiy Prytula).
British MPs welcome Azovites back to Parliament
MARCH 3 — In Committee Room 12 of the House of Parliament, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ukraine held a roundtable on Ukrainian POWs. Valery Horishny thanked the British for inviting him to London and the United Nations. He made it as part of a small Azov delegation that included the NGU Azov commander’s wife, Kateryna Prokopenko, the head of the Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families. Later they spoke at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
‘HONOURED’ — John Whittingdale, a longtime Conservative MP, hosted the roundtable event. Alistair Carns, the British Minister of Veterans, said he was “honoured to take part.” Labour MP Alex Sobel, who chairs the Ukraine APPG and recently became the UK’s Trade Envoy to Ukraine (spurred by Trump’s “minerals deal”), also said he was honored to meet Prokopenko “and start work with her” Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families. A month ago, Sobel attended a screening of “People of Steel,” a documentary about the Azov-led defense of Mariupol that claims “up to 100,000 people” died in the siege (a huge exaggeration, because apparently the real number is less than 10,000). This film toured the UK “with the support of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.”
‘NASTY’ — On his way to Westminster, Horishny shared an unflattering image of me with his Instagram followers. “This ‘alpha male’ writes all sorts of nasty things about Ukraine, my brothers and me in particular,” he commented. “Basically the face speaks for itself, there is nothing more to add.” Three crying emojis.
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However:
"Nope. That is: sure, Putin is (mis)using the Azov for his backgrounds, no doubt - just like many in the West were conditioning their aid to Kyiv with Azov either being disbanded or not receiving any of Western arms. And yes, Azov was established by white supremacists and Nazis of all sorts. And yes, no doubt, at least 10-15% of its personnel can still be considered as such.
However, successive Ukrainian govs did a lot to de-nazify Azov. Which is why the 'regiment' was eventually integrated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Atop of this: it's only one battalion of Azov that's inside Mariupol. At least 3-4 other battalions are outside, and new sub-units are in the process of bering established. With other words, at most, Putin might manage to destroy one fifth of 'Azov'.
Foremost, the mass of Ukrainian garrison of Mariupol are no neo-Nazis, nor white supremacists or anything of that kind, but Naval Infantry, Territorial Defence, and Special Police."
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/nope-that-is-sure-putin-is-mis-using-the-azov-for-his-backgrounds-no-doubt-just-like-many-in-4ad6485a7bc8
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"However, when it comes to the territory of Ukraine, it is not just the Ukrainian government that has a Nazi problem. Unreconstructed Nazis have always also had a presence on the other side. Currently, much publicity is given to the Wagner Group of mercenaries and their Nazi symbology, which may be explained by typical mercenary “badass” machoism, but, for instance, the involvement of the Russian National Unity organization – whose logo is a stylized swastika and who have made no bones about their national socialism – on the side of the separatists has been quite a bit more substantial. And, of course, there has been a steady stream of European Nazis – not mere right-wing populists, but organizations like the Forza Nuova and the British BNP – offering their support to Russia in word and deed.
There’s a simple explanation for this incongruency. The definition of “Nazi” used by the Russian regime and its supporters is essentially different from any standard one. It can be summed up as: Being fundamentally opposed to the goals of the Russian regime makes you a Nazi, and if your interests are aligned with the Russian regime, you cannot be a Nazi.
This doesn’t mean one cannot be a Nazi and also be called a Nazi in accordance with the Russian definition. There are surely many far-right nationalists fundamentally opposed to Russia and the Russian regime, even more so nowadays with Russia’s stock falling in generally in the eyes of rest of Europe. Still, the fundamental problem with the Azovites in this discourse is not Nazi symbology, by any objective criteria. Rather, it is their refusal to accord with the Russian interests and, instead, fight against Russia."
https://www.ahponen.fi/p/on-denazification
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"It is safe to say that the overwhelming majority of current Azov Regiment fighters were not a part of the original Azov Battalion. (The many changes in its makeup include gender: while the original Azov had a “men-only” policy, the unit started admitting women in early 2015; watching videos of the Azovstal defenders’ surrender a few days ago, I was struck by the number of young women among them.) Do some of them harbor extremist views? No doubt. But it’s ludicrous to refer to the regiment as “openly neo-Nazi”—words really should mean something!—and it is equally absurd to claim that no one in the mainstream media ever questioned Azov’s Nazism. As documented above, the extent of its extremism, and its evolution, has been the subject of debate and polemics almost from the moment of its founding. The “Azov Nazis” trope has been invaluable for the Kremlin, of course; it is an essential part of the “Nazi Ukraine” narrative in which, these days, anyone with a Ukrainian national identity separate from Russia qualifies as a Nazi. They provide a convenient scapegoat for atrocities: the Russian propaganda machine has tried to frame Azov fighters for the murders in Bucha (where Azov troops arrived shortly after the withdrawal of Russian forces) and is already trying to blame them for the death and destruction in Mariupol. This trope is, of course, screamingly hypocritical, considering the prominence of far-right extremists in Russia’s own war effort. But it is also actively damaging. In an article in April, Shekhovtsov argues that some Westerners’ “misguided obsession” with Azov’s alleged white supremacism, and the resulting ban on arming and funding it, resulted in Mariupol’s defenders being tragically underequipped for their battle against Russian invaders. Those fighters, who have surrendered after performing an incredible feat of bravery in holding out as long as they did, are now in serious danger. Russia, which originally seemed open to a prisoner exchange, has now made noises about designating them as “terrorists” or “Nazi criminals” outside the normal protections of international law. (Whatever abuses may have been committed by Ukrainian troops in the course of the war, “find the war criminals” is really not a hard task in this case.) Western support for the “Azov Nazis” trope unquestionable emboldens the Russians to do their worst. Under those circumstances, continuing to collectively attack those fighters as neo-Nazis is not only false but staggeringly irresponsible."
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/heroes-of-mariupol-or-neo-nazi-menace