Russia’s highest court has labeled the Azov Regiment, a former volunteer battalion with far-right roots that was formally incorporated into Ukraine’s military, a “terrorist” organization. Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling allows long prison terms for Azov members, who are accused of harboring neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology. Under Russia’s criminal code, members of “terrorist” groups can face up to 10 years in prison, while their leaders and organizers can face up to 20 years in prison. Azov has been one of the most prominent Ukrainian military formations fighting alongside the army against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. Previously based in the eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol, many of the regiment’s personnel were captured by Russian forces when the city fell in May after a nearly three-month siege. Officials in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, the Russian-backed entity that claims Mariupol as part of its territory, said in May that Azov Regiment fighters could face the death penalty under the self-proclaimed republic’s laws. Azov was officially integrated into Ukraine’s National Guard in 2014 as it helped fight Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin cited the presence of such units in the Ukrainian army as one of the reasons for launching his so-called “special military operation … to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine” on February 24. Ukraine and its allies say Putin’s claim is a blatant pretext for an aggressive war. Azov has denied conforming to Nazi ideology as a whole, but Nazi symbols such as the swastika and SS regalia are scattered across the uniforms and bodies of its members.
