The Azov Battalion’s flag: it features a Wolfsangel and a Black Sun – two symbols associated with Nazism.
It’s in the news all the time at the moment: the Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The violence. The atrocities. The possibility of Putin using chemical and biological weapons.
But do you know why Mariupol is so important to the Russian president? It may have gone past you because the BBC (to name just one news provider) certainly doesn’t include it in its reports, even though it should. Withholding this one fact shows a shocking bias.
Mariupol is the home base of the Nazi Azov Battalion.
Putin has made it clear that he intends to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has publicly taken offence to the suggestion.
But Zelenskyy has absorbed the Azov Battalion into his armed forces (it became part of the Ukrainian National Guard in 2014 and Zelenskyy has done nothing to remove it).
You can read a large amount of detail about these Nazis here. It includes details of the Azov Battalion’s many incursions into the Donbas region to attack separatists there who wish to secede from Ukraine – and of war crimes committed by its members.
No legitimate and responsible national government would ever allow creatures like this to act for it. But Zelenskyy has.
I’m not saying that Russia is right to invade Ukraine, and anyone making such a claim will get the response they deserve.
It would also be wrong to portray Ukraine as valiant heroes fighting a ruthless oppressor when Ukraine numbers these Nazis among its armed forces.
This conflict must not be seen in black and white, “heroes against villains”, terms.
In this matter, Putin has a very good point.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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