The Azov Regiment

The Azov Regiment, as it is officially called, is a very controversial volunteer paramilitary unit, both in Ukraine and abroad, which reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior.
It was founded by nationalist politicians; many members represent openly right-wing extremist positions and use the corresponding symbols. In addition, good relations with the German right-wing extremist organizations III. Path and identity movement maintained. In 2014, the Azov regiment had around 850 soldiers. In 2017, observers assumed a troop strength of more than 2,500 mercenaries ( HERE ). There is now its own vigilante group and a party. Currently the regiment is one of the most important combat units in the defense of the city of Mariupol and trains volunteers for combat operations ( HI E R ).

Child soldiers: photos with children with weapons

It is posts or images like these that are currently being shared widely and suggest that in the current crisis, very young children should be armed and apparently prepared for combat missions. Child soldiers! ( HERE )

Nazi narrative

The Azov Regiment is described in these posts “as a group of Nazis.”
In fact, right-wing extremist traits of parts of this unit cannot be dismissed. The existence of this volunteer unit, which was also funded by previous Ukrainian governments, is used by the Russian government, among others, to justify the narrative of the attack as a last resort to denazify Ukraine. These posts fuel this narrative in a very emotional way. But it is also a fact that unity in Ukraine itself is very controversial. More on the justification for “denazification” HERE .

Clearly there are right-wing extremists in military units in Ukraine, even though the members of the Azov Regiment are veterans. It is not possible to determine how high the proportion of right-wing extremists or neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian military is. Seeing it as legitimizing an invasion corresponds to a narrative spread by the Kremlin. However, the prevailing opinion worldwide says that there is no justification for this military intervention.

Journalist Michael Colborne gave a very interesting interview about the background of the Azov movement to the Belltower News ( HERE ).

The photos

Various fact checkers, such as the Austrian news agency APA, have already investigated the topic and taken a closer look at the photos. It turned out that all of them are NOT current and some of them were clearly written before the Ukraine war ( HERE ).

Paramilitary holiday camp

The APA has researched that the photos currently circulating, especially on Facebook, are old and have nothing to do with Russia's current invasion of Ukraine. The photos would show a paramilitary holiday camp organized by the “Azov” group and aimed at children and young people.

Where do the photos come from?

Here is the APA research ( HERE ) for the images. The incriminated post contains a total of 9 images. All of them depict children dressed in military clothing, handling weapons or dummy weapons and posing patriotically. Some children wear blankets that say “Azovets” in “Azovets”. You can also see a mirrored version of the neo-Nazi symbol of the “Wolfsangel”, an “Idea of ​​the Nation” symbol that is banned in Germany, for example ( HERE ).

None of the photos are current or related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

  1. The first image comes from the Associated Press (AP) news agency ( HERE ) and was taken on July 8, 2017 outside Kiev in a “paramilitary camp for children.”
  2. The origin of the second photo is unclear, but it appears in a Russian article from August 2015 ( HERE ) .
  3. The third picture is also from the AP ( HERE ) and is from July 14, 2017.
  4. The fourth image must have been taken between 2016 and 2017, as the photo database of documentary photographer Alex Masi ( HERE ) shows.
  5. The origin of the fifth image also remains unclear, but the TinEye reverse image search ( HERE ) dates the earliest hit to August 2015.
  6. The sixth picture can be found on the website of the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) ( HERE ) and was taken on August 12, 2015 on the outskirts of Kiev. According to the description of the picture, the military-patriotic summer camp “Azovets” is shown, which was organized by the volunteer battalion “Azov” for children whose parents live in the eastern Ukrainian conflict zone and for other children from Kiev. The children would learn about the military, practice self-defense and survival skills, and play sports.
  7. The seventh photo was posted in April 2016 on the social network VK ( HERE ), which is heavily used in Russia. the user ( HI ER ) works for the “Azov” battalion. As can be seen from their VK page ( HERE ), the battalion's instructors will teach the children, among other things, how to handle weapons and provide first aid. Lectures and film screenings on historical and patriotic topics are also intended to give them an understanding of the importance of their home country.
  8. The penultimate picture was taken on August 14, 2015 by a photographer from the French news agency AFP and is also attributed to a summer camp of the “Azov” battalion. It can also be found in an article in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” ( HIER ) .
  9. The last photo appeared in the image search engine TinEye ( HERE ) in March 2014. It is unclear whether it is related to the summer camps.

Holiday camps with nationalistic traits

There are several media reports about the summer camps and the “Azov” battalion, for example from the British Guardian ( HERE ), the Reuters news agency ( HI E R ), the radio station Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ( HERE ) and the research collective Bellingcat ( HERE , HERE ). According to some reports, parts of the group, such as the “National Corps,” have strong extremist and nationalist traits. mentioned in a report by the US State Department ( HERE ) from 2019 and in a report by the US NGO Freedom House ( HERE

According to Bellingcat ( HERE ), several Ukrainian far-right groups, including the “National Corps,” received financial support from the government for “national-patriotic education projects.” It is impossible to say to what extent any of this money flowed into the paramilitary summer camps. The AP news agency ( HERE ) also reported in 2018 that the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports financially supported “young and patriotic education,” including youth camps.

A New York Times video ( HERE ) shows that the summer camps were founded in 2015, a year after Russia annexed Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly explained his invasion in February 2022 as the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine” ( HERE ). Although there are several right-wing extremist groups in Ukraine, the narrative is highly controversial. media reports ( HERE , the “Azov” battalion was only formed during the Euromaidan protests in 2013 and 2014. According to experts ( HERE , the extremist battalion would not exist without the war.

Preparatory propaganda?

The UK's BBC ( HERE ) reported that there has been a sharp increase in social media postings linking Ukraine to Nazism since last November, according to technology company Logically. The speculative question therefore arises as to whether Russia may have carried out preparatory propaganda in order to be able to justify the war of aggression later.

One reason for the current interest in “Azov” could be the fact that, despite the Kharkiv provenance of leading representatives, the battalion was founded in the city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov and the group plays an important role in the defense of the currently hotly contested city.

Conclusion

None of the photos show child soldiers who are currently being trained as child soldiers by the Azov Regiment, which is controversial because of its right-wing extremist traits, to fight against Russia. It was possible to prove where each of the images actually came from or that they were created clearly before this war.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )