Russia designates Ukraine’s Azov Regiment a ‘terrorist’ group

The Supreme Court docket ruling permits for prolonged jail phrases for the members of the battalion.

A veteran of the Ukrainian National Guard Azov battalion conducts military exercises for civilians
Azov was formally included into Ukraine's Nationwide Guard in 2014 [File: Gleb Garanich/Reuters]

Russia’s high courtroom has designated the Azov Regiment, a former volunteer battalion with far-right roots that was formally built-in into Ukraine’s military, a “terrorist” organisation.

The ruling by the Supreme Court docket on Tuesday permits for prolonged jail phrases for the members of Azov, who're accused of harbouring neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology.

In keeping with Russia’s felony code, members of “terrorist” teams can withstand 10 years in jail, whereas their leaders and organisers may be jailed for as much as 20 years.

Azov has been some of the outstanding Ukrainian navy formations preventing alongside the military towards Russian troops in jap Ukraine.

Beforehand based mostly within the jap Ukrainian port metropolis of Mariupol, lots of the regiment’s personnel had been captured by Russian forces when the town fell in Could after an nearly three-month-long siege.

Officers within the so-called Donetsk Folks’s Republic, the Russian-backed entity which claims Mariupol as a part of its territory, stated in Could that captured Azov Regiment fighters might face the loss of life penalty beneath the self-proclaimed republic’s legal guidelines.

Azov was formally included into Ukraine’s Nationwide Guard in 2014 because it helped combat Kremlin-backed separatists in jap Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin referenced the presence of such models inside the Ukrainian navy as one of many causes for launching his so-called “particular navy operation … to de-militarise and denazify Ukraine” on February 24.

Ukraine and its allies say Putin’s declare is a blatant pretext for a warfare of aggression.

Azov has denied it adheres to Nazi ideology as a complete, however Nazi symbols such because the swastika and SS regalia are rife on the uniforms and our bodies of its members.

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