Thread by @kylenabecker

Zelensky today announced he was banning 11 political parties and opposition groups.

Who was missing? The neo-Nazi party "Svoboda" and the open neo-Nazi militia group @Azov. [Thread.]

The Azov miilitia is at the front in Mariupol, which it retook from pro-Russian separatists in 2014.

While major US outlets like WaPo have reported that 'Russian shelling' destroyed the Mariupol theater right as Zelensky pleaded for a 'no fly zone,' this claim is in grave doubt.

"Last week, the Azov Battalion, a far-right paramilitary group that is now part of the Ukrainian national guard, posted a video from the theater that showed it full of families and children. In the video, which The Post reviewed, young children are seen playing..."

Max Blumenthal, left-wing proclivities aside, is a trustworthy war reporter who has taken a harder look at the Mariupol theater claims.

His findings are extremely concerning & undermine the corporate media's concerted effort to march the United States into a 'hot' European war.

"A closer look reveals that local residents in Mariupol had warned three days before the March 16 incident that the theater would be the site of a false flag attack launched by Azov Battalion, which controlled the building and the territory around it." (The Grayzone)

"Civilians that escaped the city through humanitarian corridors have testified that they were held by Azov as human shields in area, and that Azov fighters detonated parts of the theater as they retreated."
thegrayzone.com/2022/03/18/bom…

"Despite claims of a massive Russian airstrike that reduced the building to ashes, all civilians appear to have escaped with their lives."

"Video of the attack on the theater remains unavailable at the time of publication; only photographs of the damaged structure can be viewed."

"The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied conducting an airstrike on the theater, asserting that the site had no military value and that no sorties were flown in the area on March 16."

In a carefully worded statement, Volodymyr Zelenskiy implicitly blamed the Russians for the bombing. He said that rescue efforts led to 130 people recovered alive at the site of the bombed Mariupol theater.

"Video footage showing the smoking ruins of the once-stately Mariupol Drama Theater emerged soon after officials from both Russia and Ukraine expressed cautious optimism about negotiations to end almost three weeks of fighting..." (WaPo)

"...and President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an impassioned virtual address to U.S. lawmakers calling for air support and the creation of a 'humanitarian no-fly zone' to protect evacuation corridors."

If this indeed proves to be a staged operation to blame the Russians and impose a 'no fly zone,' it would constitute a deliberate sabotaging of Russia-Ukrainian peace talks. But to whose end?

The BBC, and other media outlets that reported on the Mariupol theater event, didn't mention the group "Azov" one time in their reportage.
bbc.com/news/world-eur…

It should be noted that Azov, which has a verified account on Twitter (@Azov), unabashedly uses neo-Nazi symbolism and signs.

Andriy Biletsky, the founder and leader of the Azov paramilitary group, is a rabid anti-Semite and white supremacist.🔻

The U.S. Congress banned military aid to Azov in the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The Biden administration has sent $13.6 billion in aid, including about half of that amount in military aid.

There is a danger that weaponry may fall into the hands of the Azov regiment.

Zelensky is clearly depending on Azov to fight for Ukrainian territory in the disputed Donbas region.

That Zelensky would not name Azov in the Ukrainian president's list of banned opposition groups & parties speaks volumes about the kind of war the U.S. is getting itself into.