French media outlet Mediapart has revealed that Ukrainian military personnel with clear Neo-Nazi affiliations have been participating in training in the country, releasing footage showing the personnel with a range of Nazi symbols. This included one serviceman with an SS symbol tattooed on his face. “Equipped like French soldiers, these men were affiliated with the 3rd Assault Brigade, a unit of the Ukrainian Army, heir to the neo-Nazi Azov regiment,” the report stated, highlighting that this raised questions regarding the “implications of this controversial collaboration on national and international security,” the report stated. Its release notably closely coincided with the publication of a highly controversial image showing former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson holding a banner with a Nazi SS symbol alongside members of the Neo Nazi Azov unit, after these personnel were hosted in London. “We rely wholly on such heroes as the people who are here tonight with us, from the Azov brigade,” Johnson had stated at the time, drawing further attention to the relationship between Western governments and far right military organisations in their common war effort against Russia.
Reports of Ukrainian forces training in NATO member states bearing Nazi insignia has been far from unprecedented, with Germany having deported a number of personnel for these reasons. Footage from the frontlines published by media outlets from multiple NATO member states has also very frequently shown Nazi insignia not only on Ukrainian forces’ bodies and uniforms, but also on their armoured vehicles. Ukrainian Neo Nazi units have been accused in multiple UN reports and in reports by multiple international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International of engaging in torture, rape, and looting. The founder of the Azov Battalion Andrey Biletsky was described by TIME magazine has having created a “neo-Nazi terrorist group,” whose “manifesto seemed to pluck its narrative straight from Nazi ideology.” Preceding the escalation of Russian-Ukrainian hostilities in February 2022 to full scale war, the Azov battalion was recognised by the United States as a neo-Nazi organization which placed restrictions on the kinds of support that could be provided, although calls to reduce these restrictions rose as Azov units began to play a critical role in the war effort against Russian forces. The reportedly very high combat effectiveness of Nazi military units in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War has fuelled allegations that their ideology is being overlooked by Kiev’s Western supporters due to the perceived high priority of defeating Russia.