Thread by @YossiGestetner

"A regiment in Ukraine's military was founded by white supremacists. Now it's battling Russia on the front lines." - USA Today 3/5/22

"Neo-Nazis are part of some of Ukraine’s growing ranks of volunteer battalions. They are battle-hardened after waging some of the toughest street fighting against Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine following Putin’s Crimean invasion in 2014." - NBC 3/5/22

"Neo-Nazis are part of some of Ukraine’s growing ranks of volunteer battalions... One is the Azov Battalion, founded by an avowed white supremacist who claimed Ukraine’s national purpose was to rid the country of Jews and other inferior races." 3/5/22, NBC.

"In 2018, the U.S. Congress stipulated that its aid to Ukraine couldn’t be used 'to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion,'" because of their war crimes and hate. "Even so, Azov is now an official member of the Ukraine National Guard." - NBC News

"Ukrainian Nationalist Volunteers Committing 'ISIS-Style' War Crimes." - Newsweek, Sep 2014.

The article refers to the Azov Battalion. Amnesty International accused them of beheading and other brutalities.

Did Congress revers its 2018 law against backing this group?

"The Azov causes particular concern due to the far right, even neo-Nazi, leanings of many of its members.
Dmitry claimed not to be a Nazi, but waxed lyrical about Adolf Hitler as a military leader, and believes the Holocaust never happened." - The Guardian Sep 10, 2014.

Azov's "symbol is reminiscent of the Nazi Wolfsangel, though the battalion claims it is in fact meant to be the letters N and I crossed over each other, standing for "national idea". Many of its members have links with neo-Nazi groups." - The Guardian Sep 2014

"White supremacy and neo-Nazism are unacceptable and have no place in our world. I am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the U.S. from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighting in Ukraine." - @RoKhanna, 3/27/18, The Hill.

"In its statement to TIME, Facebook said it began using its algorithms to detect Azov content after designating it a dangerous organization in 2016." - Time, 1/7/21.

"Facebook allows praise of Neo-Nazi Ukrainian Battalion." - Intercept, 2/24/22

Activists claim "weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the... Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons." - Haaretz 7/9/18

A now widely-followed staffer for the Kiyv Independent repeatedly spent time "chilling out" with the Azov Battalion; cheered their birthday and called them "brothers in arms." Western media including @TeamCavuto had him on yesterday as a legit "reporter."

cc @mtracey @BretBaier

As you can see from the screen grabs in the tweet above, the Nazi-inspired, white supremacist Azov Battalion has an active Twitter account: Polk lower case Azov.

Nazi inspired/white supremacist per all the media reporters in this thread.

According to the pro-Ukrainian Twitter below, the Azov regiment was the first to learn how to use new weaponry from NATO, so stop with the spin that the Nazi-inspired Azovs are an irreverent wing in Ukraine.

Also, any update on the '18 ban by Congress against aiding them?

Poll: The tweets in this thread showcases media reports pre-dating the Russia invasion of Ukraine that the Azov Battalion is run by Nazis.

This group is now on the front lines to defend Ukraine including getting new weapons. (See above tweet.)

Do you support their current role?

Back in 2018, Congressman @RoKhanna tweeted the below about the Azov but the tweet is now gone per @JackPosobiec.

"There are no doubts about the neo-Nazi and white supremacist background of the Azov Battalion, a militia that has positioned itself at the forefront of the fight against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine." - Daily Beast July, 2015 thedailybeast.com/is-america-tra…

In 2019, @MaxRose4NY led a letter of 40 House Members asking the @StateDept to blacklist the Azovs for "welcoming neo-Nazis into its ranks," and because the UN "chronicled human rights abuses and incidents of torture by this group" that few in national media care to call out now.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

For years, media and officials said that the Azov Battalion are NAZIS.

Now they R on the front lines of Ukraine's military per a pro-Ukraine account (scroll up).

We don't need to choose between Putin's evil and Ukrainian Nazis!

Zelensky should disband this group!

Many people who amplified onto national news sites/TV small time, unknown Twitter accounts from Nazis in an effort to paint it on Trump, are now silent as NAZIS have a lead military battalion in Ukraine

"It's complicated" is the best that these hacks say now about it.

Please.

"Brazilian Neo-Nazis Recruited to Fight pro-Russian Rebels in Ukraine... Misanthropic Division was recruiting youngsters ten months ago to fight in Ukraine. They are believed to have ties with Azov Battalion, an ultra-nationalist paramilitary group aligned with Kiev.״ - JTA, 2017

"Ukrainian Soldiers Seen Wearing Helmets With Nazi Swastika and SS Symbols... 'We were filming a report about Ukraine’s Azov battalion in the eastern city of Urzuf, when we came across these soldiers,' a correspondent for private television station ZDF, told NBC." - Haaretz '14.

"The Azov movement insists it is not neo-Nazi, yet its members have been captured giving Hitler salutes and being virulently anti-Semitic. A trip to the group’s social center in Kiev reveals its heart of darkness." - Haaretz '19

cc @ChemiShalev @BretBaier

In January 2021, @TIME had a lengthy report regarding white supremacy in the US and in Europe and how the Azov Battalion is in center of it all, and that they are seen as heroes in Ukraine.

Again, this was last year Jan!

This video is part of Time's report:

The @TIME report from last year January regarding the Azovs noted how their logo/symbol is Nazi-inspired and that the group recruited "outright neo-Nazis" as commanders.