US Admits Prohibitions On Assistance To Ukraine's Azov Have No Effect - Reports

The United States' prohibitions on providing arms and assistance to Ukraine's neo-Nazi Azov battalion (a terrorist organization, banned in Russia) have no practical effect, because the status of the group has changed, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing a State Department spokesperson

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2023) The United States' prohibitions on providing arms and assistance to Ukraine's neo-Nazi Azov battalion (a terrorist organization, banned in Russia) have no practical effect, because the status of the group has changed, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing a State Department spokesperson.

Since 2014, Ukraine has actively deployed so-called volunteer formations, including Azov, in its military campaign in Donbas. Azov was incorporated into the country's national guard later that year.

A State Department spokesperson told the newspaper that Azov is now "a different unit." They added, however, that "Ukraine has agreed not to direct US support to any identified units of concern" such as Azov.

The 2023 US budget prohibits the allocation of funds to Ukraine's Azov.

Azov is now seeking to rebuild after incurring heavy combat losses during fighting with Russian forces and is eyeing a leading role in Ukraine's expected counteroffensive, the Post reported.

The Ukrainian government has designated the group as one of six "offensive brigades" to spearhead the spring assault, the report added.

The nationalistic battalion is hoping to recruit 6,500 new fighters, as more than 1,000 of its troops remain in Russian captivity, according to the report.

Azov is not ruling out a possible strategy of "capturing small Russian towns," as was done during the First Chechen War, to have "leverage to recover Russian-held areas," the newspaper also said, citing the battalion's interim commander Bohdan Krotevych.

In August 2022, Russia's Supreme Court designated Azov as a terrorist organization. Azov militants use prohibited means and methods of warfare and are complicit in torture of civilians and killings of children, the Russian prosecutor general's office said.