Azov movement: right-wing extremist support from Germany?

The Ukrainian Azov movement has right-wing extremist connections. According to the intelligence services, there are also connections to Germany. How tight are the ties?

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine must be “denazified.” He is apparently alluding to the so-called Azov group in Ukraine. What is meant is the movement that formed in Ukraine in 2014 during the conflict over Crimea.

To understand: In the early phase of the armed conflict between pro-Russian and Ukrainian fighters in 2014, the city of Mariupol was first occupied by the Russian side and later liberated by the Azov troops.

Political and military movement

Stephan Kramer, head of the Thuringia Office for the Protection of the Constitution, emphasizes that there is a political Azov movement on the one hand and a military part, the Azov regiment, on the other. The two need to be distinguished.

However, according to Kramer, there are two sides of the same coin. The political arm has connections to right-wing extremists, also in Germany, according to Kramer. Representatives also appeared at right-wing extremist martial arts events. Brutal events where extremists beat each other bloody in cages. In this way, the political part of the Azov movement would have tried to build up an international network – with connections to Scandinavia and North America.

Azov’s PR strategy

According to Alexander Ritzmann from the “Counter Extremism Project” in Berlin, the political arm of the Azov movement is no longer trying to appear extremist to the outside world. This does not seem to be really credible – more of a “PR strategy”, according to the extremism researcher. After all, the political movement had maintained contact with neo-Nazi groups such as the “Third Way” for years.

However, Ritzmann also emphasizes that template thinking is of no help in times of war. Since 2014, Ukraine has been primarily concerned with pushing back Russian aggression.

Observed worldwide

The nationalist influence of the political arm on other countries, including Germany, is being observed by intelligence services around the world, including by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, emphasizes Kramer. The services worry that the right-wing extremists could gain combat experience in Putin’s war in Ukraine. In addition, the inhibition threshold to use weapons after the end of the war could drop.

Similar experiences were made with right-wing extremist mercenaries in the Balkan war.

Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Low single-digit number

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution assumes that there are very few German right-wing extremists in Ukraine. A low single digit number. However, the Federal Criminal Police Office qualifies that an exact number of those who left the country is not available.

Ritzmann adds that the military part, the Azov regiment is now subordinate to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior and is fighting on the side of Ukraine. “This makes it an official part of the Ukrainian armed forces,” says Ritzmann, “integrated into the military hierarchy.” What is meant is: under control.

Disarmed in symbolism

The regiment disarmed in symbolism. The wolf’s angel is still in the emblem, a symbol that is also used by right-wing extremists and that means something like “our nation” in Ukrainian. Other right-wing extremist symbols have been removed from the emblem.

Ritzmann believes that Putin’s claim that he wants to denazify Ukraine is a lie. There would be no reason for that. When the political arm of the Azov movement merged with right-wing extremist parties in the 2019 elections, they only got 2.15 percent of the votes together. This clearly shows that Ukrainians have no interest in right-wing extremist movements.

Russia itself has around 150 right-wing extremist organizations in its own country and seems to have a much bigger problem with right-wing extremism than Ukraine.