So a common talking point from the Russian side of the argument with Ukraine is that they're going in to denazify the country. I see this commonly reposted online, and I saw it mentioned quite a bit on RT the other night. Claiming that Ukraine is Nazi and that the CIA is funding them and they gotta save it from fascism, all while repeating common literal fascist talking points about sexual degeneracy and all that garbage the far right screams about constantly (funny how fascists claim everyone else is the real fascists). The azov batallion is something I see mentioned a lot in reference to these claims so I looked into it.
So...the azov batallion is a paramilitary unit that is loosely associated with the Ukranian national guard. It's complicated. Apparently to combat Russian separatists Ukraine decided it would be a good idea to allow civilians to form paramilitary units to fight the separatists, and it just so happened that a white supremacist nutjob ended up making one and fighting separatists with it. And then a year later, these groups were pulled, so these guys no longer have any support from the Ukranian government and are essentially a militia acting under its own authority.
To have a similar situation, say there was a very thriving Mexican separatist movement in, say, Texas, a red state. And that the US government decided to allow civilians to form militias to fight it. And say, some neo nazi whack job formed a unit and was brutal, but effective against them. And then the government realizes this is a terrible idea and closes the program, but the unit kind of remains active on its own authority. That's basically what happened in Ukraine. The Ukraine government doesnt endorse nazism, heck, Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Ukranian president) is Jewish and had family members die in the holocaust. It was just a bad policy they had for a year, before they replaced the militias with their own soldiers.
Also, the claim the US funds this movement, no. The wikipedia link explicitly mentions the US government refusing to give such groups aid, and aid to Ukraine is conditional on the basis that it does not go to extremist groups who pose national security risks like that.
But, Russia keeps promoting the narrative that Ukraine are Nazis and that they need to go in and denazify the country. This is like Mexico invading the US because of the KKK or some random neo nazi militia that exists here. I mean, it's a lot like that. Right wing extremist groups be right wing extremist groups. They're not endorsed by the government. I would actually argue any sufficiently free country likely would have at least some neonazi whackjobs somewhere. Russia might act like that they're the whole country. They're not. That's like saying the American History X guy represents all of America.
Anyway, I just wanted to debunk that piece of Russian propaganda. Apparently a lot of Russians and their apologists are buying that one hook line and sinker.
EDIT: One correction I want to make is after more research, yes, the Azov batallion still exists and is part of the Ukrainian military for some reason. While this fact is unfortunate, and questionable on the part of Ukraine, it should be noted that this is still a tiny minority of the country and is not representative of the entire country. Again, keep in mind US politics and the neo nazis and white supremacist groups we have. Ukraine having small minorities of nazis too is comparable to this in the best of scenarios.
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