The Russian Supreme Court on Tuesday classified the Ukrainian Azov regiment as a “terrorist organization”. Quoted by the public agency TASS, a judge of the Supreme Court indicated “to satisfy the administrative request of the General Prosecutor’s Office, to recognize the Ukrainian paramilitary unit “Azov” as a terrorist organization and to prohibit its activities” in Russia. She clarified that this decision would come into effect immediately.
Most of the trial took place behind closed doors. According to TASS, witnesses had been called to the stand and spoke about alleged crimes committed by the Azov regiment in Ukraine. According to Russian law, the leaders of a terrorist organization risk fifteen to twenty years in prison, ordinary members between five and ten years.
Accused of being a neo-Nazi group
The Azov regiment, a unit created in 2014 by volunteers and then integrated into the Ukrainian regular army, distinguished itself by defending the port city of Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine, conquered by Russia after a siege of several months. After weeks of heavy fighting and shelling, the last defenders of Mariupol, entrenched in the Azovstal factory, finally surrendered last May.
The Kremlin and the Russian state media accuse the Azov regiment of being a neo-Nazi group having committed war crimes and threaten to punish its members very severely.