Neo-Nazi Forces in Ukraine—What the Media Stopped Talking About

Mar 28, 2022

In the current war in Ukraine, those forces supporting the Ukrainian government include a number of far-right, white supremacist, and neo-Nazi groups. Many of these groups have been funded by wealthy Ukrainian oligarchs. Some of these far-right groups have been incorporated into the official Ukrainian military forces, like the Azov Battalion. Others operate as paramilitary groups. Some of these far-right groups trace their roots back or at least claim to be inheritors of the Ukrainian fascist groups who helped the German Nazis exterminate Jewish people during World War Two.

These current far-right Ukrainian organizations are well-known to the U.S. government. The U.S. government, through clandestine means, has armed some of them with weapons. The CIA and some U.S. National Guard units have trained them. These far-right Ukrainian groups are also well-known to the major media organizations in the U.S. They have written many articles about them. Or at least they did—until the current war started. Here are some of the things they have written—in the past.

“Volunteer Ukrainian Unit Includes Nazis”—USA Today, 3–10–2015.

“Post-Maidan Ukraine is the world’s only nation to have a neo-Nazi formation in its armed forces. The Azov Battalion was initially formed out of the neo-Nazi gang Patriot of Ukraine…. Azov’s commander once wrote that Ukraine’s mission is to “lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade against the Semite-led inferior races”—The Nation, 2–22–2019.

“Recruits training in August 2019 with the military wing of Ukraine’s far-right Azov movement which has inspired white supremacists around the world.”—Time Magazine, 1–7-2021.

“The Azov Battalion … became known for its embrace of self-confessed neo-Nazis into its ranks … the Battalion is now an official part of Ukraine’s National Guard…. Azov has hosted neo-Nazi concerts replete with swastikas, tried to recruit foreign right-wing extremists, openly assaulted feminists, LGBT and leftist activists and cleared a Roma camp with hammer and axes."—Foreign Policy magazine, 4–15–2019.

“Groups of right-wing Ukrainian nationalists are committing war crimes in the rebel-held territories of Eastern Ukraine, according to the report from Amnesty International.”—Newsweek, 9–10–2014.

In 2016, Facebook designated the Azov Battalion as a “dangerous organization” and banned it from its platforms, similar to its policy for groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

But as soon as the current war in Ukraine began, Facebook reversed its ban, saying it would allow praise for the Azov Battalion. In fact, the entire major media in the U.S. is now ignoring what they themselves had written in the recent past. Once the war started, suddenly there is no mention of the Ukrainian far-right groups. The media now praises as heroes all those Ukrainians fighting against the Russian forces, without mentioning that some of them are avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists, who are fighting for their own far-right cause.

The fact that the media is now covering up the far-right Ukrainian forces is no accident or oversight. The major media is doing its part to get us to support the policy of the U.S. government to fuel the Ukraine war, a government that represents the wealthy ruling class in this country, who own and control the major media.

This is a preparation for the next war. The capitalist governments of the world have engaged in two world wars—sending working people of different countries to fight each other. And they have engaged in many, many smaller wars. These governments couldn’t do it by telling their populations the truth about wars. They had to lie and cover up the truth. We must recognize that how they cover up the truth in Ukraine today could well be a preparation for the next world war—a war that would directly involve U.S. soldiers and the U.S. population.