An Azov battalion soldier stands next to an armoured personnel carrier at a checkpoint in Mariupol on 4 September. Photograph: Vasily Fedosenko/REUTERS
Azov Fighters Are Ukraine's Greatest Weapon And May Be Its Greatest Threat -- The Guardian
The battalion's far-right volunteers' desire to 'bring the fight to Kiev' is a danger to post-conflict stability.
"I have nothing against Russian nationalists, or a great Russia," said Dmitry, as we sped through the dark Mariupol night in a pickup truck, a machine gunner positioned in the back. "But Putin's not even a Russian. Putin's a Jew."
Dmitry – which he said is not his real name – is a native of east Ukraine and a member of the Azov battalion, a volunteer grouping that has been doing much of the frontline fighting in Ukraine's war with pro-Russian separatists.
The Azov, one of many volunteer brigades to fight alongside the Ukrainian army in the east of the country, has developed a reputation for its fearlessness in battle.
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My Comment: These militia units are not happy that the civil war has ended this way .... they wanted a fight and are now being told to lay down their arms. The only good thing that I can say about these units .... is that their numbers are small, and most Ukrainians are not sympathetic to their extreme nationalist point of view. To begin .... it was their leaders who pushed the anti-Russian laws in March that resulted in the east demanding independence .... that now has resulted in Crimea becoming a part of Russia, and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions being plunged into a civil war. But having said that .... these Ukrainian militia units are organized, and they have shown a determination to push an agenda which for the moment is on the battlefield .... but in the future (I predict) will probably be on the political level in Kiev. But what they will do on the political level .... and in Kiev .... that is anyone's guess.
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