For several weeks, Vladimir Putin has presented the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army as a "special operation" aimed in particular at "denazifying" the Ukrainian state. In this attempt to justify the offensive launched by the master of the Kremlin against his neighbour, a Ukrainian military unit with a sulphurous reputation, the Azov regiment, is used as a symbolic enemy by the Russian camp. On social networks, the images of its fighters wearing symbols evoking Nazism are shared in number, in particular by pro-Russian Internet users.
The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, used this controversial battalion to justify the bombardment of a maternity hospital on Wednesday March 9 in the besieged city of Mariupol, claiming that the building served as a base for his fighters. . "This maternity ward has long since been taken over by the Azov battalion and other radicals, and all the women in childbirth, all the nurses and all the support staff have been thrown out ," the Russian foreign minister said. . Franceinfo answers several questions about this unit integrated since 2014 into the Ukrainian National Guard.
1 How was he born?
The Azov Regiment is a paramilitary group that takes its name from the Sea of Azov, bordering both Ukraine, Russia and Crimea, a Ukrainian region annexed by Moscow since 2014 . It was initially a battalion composed of volunteers, Ukrainians and foreigners. He played a key role in the liberation of Mariupol in the spring of 2014, when this large Donbass city was then in the hands of pro-Russian separatists. The battalion acquired the status of a regiment in November of the same year, being integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine, by decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The paramilitary group has since been part of the institutionalized Ukrainian forces. "It is a desire to reintegrate them into a structure to contain the danger that the existence of military groups outside the State could represent" , analysis for franceinfo Masha Cerovic, lecturer at EHESS and member from the Center for Studies of the Russian, Caucasian and Central European Worlds (Cercec).
2 What are its links with neo-Nazi ideology?
The historical nucleus of the Azov regiment is associated with a radical extreme right of neo-Nazi affiliation which defends theses on "the white race", analyzes Masha Cerovic. The founder of this armed group, Andriy Biletsky, was a member of the Ukrainian Parliament between 2014 and 2019. In 2007, then a member of the ultranationalist paramilitary organization Patriots of Ukraine, he published a text entitled "Ukrainian racial social nationalism" , reports Liberation . "However, Andriy Biletsky has never openly claimed a neo-Nazi identity" , specifies the researcher.
In 2016, he participated in the founding of a party: National Corps. "Veterans of the Azov regiment wanted to capitalize on their image to transform military action into political action", explains to franceinfo Adrien Nonjon, researcher at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) and specialist in Ukraine and the extreme right. Within the National Corps, war is presented as the best means of defending the nation, explains Adrien Nonjon, who qualifies the party as "soldier nationalist" inspired . "Its impact remains very marginal in the Ukrainian political game" , however nuances Masha Cerovic.
These acquaintances with Nazism were however noted on the front. Photos of fighters from the Azov regiment wearing evocative symbols of the Third Reich have been circulating on social networks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. The esoteric symbol of the "Black Sun", or the inverted "Wolfsangel" , which was that of the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich", is displayed on some Ukrainian fatigues. These are old emblems of the paramilitary group, still used by some soldiers, says Adrien Nonjon . The neo-Nazi ideology would not however be in the majority within the troops of the regiment who are currently fighting, adds the researcher."With the opening of the regiment to wider recruitment in 2014, this [neo-Nazi] base was drowned in the mass", he specifies.
3 Why are his methods controversial?
The Azov regiment has been accused by the UN and some NGOs of abuses committed during the Crimean conflict in 2014. Two years later , a report (in English) from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused the battalion of rape and torture. "A mentally handicapped man was subjected to cruel treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence by eight to ten members of the Azov and Donbass battalions [another Ukrainian paramilitary formation] in August-September 2014", can- we especially read there.
Also in 2016, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also released their joint report(in English) on the situation in Ukraine. The two NGOs report the practice of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment incriminating several military groups, including the Azov regiment. Same story on the side of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), which published its conclusions on the 2014 conflict in 2018. The public establishment attached to the Ministry of the Interior denounced acts of torture (deprivation of food, use of electric shocks, etc.) of which members of the regiment were allegedly guilty.
4 What is his involvement in this war?
For researcher Masha Cerovic, the Azov regiment evolves mainly in the Donbass region, in eastern Ukraine, even if it remains difficult to precisely locate the positions of combat troops in times of war . It would have between 3,500 and 4,000 men, according to Adrien Nonjon. The regiment would therefore represent less than 2% of the total strength of the Ukrainian army, which has nearly 200,000 soldiers , according to figures from the Military Balance of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (Iiss), quoted by the AFP at the end of February.