State Department lifts arms ban on Ukraine's Azov Brigade

The US State Department confirmed to WORLD on Tuesday that the controversial unit can now use US weapons supplied to Ukraine. Since 2014, members of the 12th Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard Special Forces have been accused of adhering to neo-Nazi beliefs and engaging in human rights violations. A 2018 US spending bill blocked US funding from going to the Azov Brigade.

Why did the State Department lift this ban? The department said it investigated the unit and conducted a process known as the Leahy audit. The unit successfully passed the vetting process, which found no credible information that the unit committed what it called gross human rights violations.

In its statement to WORLD, the US State Department accused Russia of spreading disinformation about the unit. Ukraine formed a unit called the Azov Battalion in 2014 during Russia's invasion of Crimea. That unit was later disbanded in 2015. The current Azov Brigade is not the same entity as the previous Azov Battalion, the U.S. State Department told WORLD.

What does Russia say about the Azov Brigade? Russian state media quoted a Russian official as saying that Ukraine, with NATO support, was using neo-Nazi military formations to attack Russian communities bordering Ukraine. Another Russian state media outlet more directly accused the United States of flirting with Nazism by authorizing the use of its weapons by the Azov Brigade.

What did the Azov Brigade say? In a statement posted on its website, the unit said it had received confirmation from officials at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine that the State Department had lifted the ban. The brigade said receiving U.S. weapons would help it fight Russian forces more effectively and ensure the well-being of its members. The unit said it was now becoming more professional, more powerful and more dangerous to Russian forces.

Dig Deeper: Read Todd Vician's report in WORLD Magazine on the Azov Brigade and ask yourself if Ukraine really has a neo-Nazi problem as Russia claims.