US revokes ban on Azov Brigade using US weapons

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 1 minute read

Joe Biden's administration will allow the Azov Brigade to receive U.S. weapons, reversing a ban imposed years ago over concerns about the military unit's founders.

This is what the Washington Post claims, referring to the US State Department, reports Ukrinform.

“After a thorough examination, the 12th Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian special forces passed the Leahy examination carried out by the US State Department,” the newspaper writes, citing a State Department statement.

The legislation, named after Senator Patrick Leahy, prohibits the transfer of U.S. military aid to foreign units that have committed serious human rights violations.

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State Department officials stressed that they found “no evidence” of such violations.

At the same time, the State Department did not specify when exactly the ban was lifted and whether American weapons had already been delivered to Azov.

It is worth recalling that about a decade ago, Azov was banned from using American weapons, as official concerns were expressed in Washington at the time that some of the unit's founders had racist, xenophobic and ultranationalist views. These claims echoed the Kremlin propaganda narrative aimed at compromising Ukraine's defenders.

Photo: Ivan Stanislavskyi, lb.ua