They say 'One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words' ...
This particular picture shows a formation of the Ukrainian Azov volunteer batallion on parade in the Bundeswehr flecktarn uniforms they have chosen for themselves.
Having worn that uniform myself with pride (and without ski mask), I have a problem when I see them using it, given the fact that the troop presents their distinctive yellow flag with the Wolfsangel and the flag of the Azov Batallion.
Context matters, symbols matter, as does history, and the primary reason for my disgust is that what we are seeing here is in sum so clearly nazi symbolism that it takes wilfulness to ignore it.
♦ Reading the signs
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Pea Soup |
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The flecktarn pattern on their Bundeswehr Flecktarn uniforms is an evolved version of the 'pea soup' patterns used by the Waffen SS in WW-II. The image shows Ukrainian veterans posing with a re-enactor in such a Waffen SS uniform, apparently reminiscing about the good old days. In that sense, the Azov Batallion's choice of camouflage pattern mirrors political choices Ukrainian nationalists made during World War II when they collaborated with Nazi Germany.
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The Wolfsangel |
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The Wolfsangel rune that can be seen on the flag and in the Badge of the Azov batallion is a symbol that was rather popular during National Socialism. It is in Germany a prohibited symbol. It's history of use is instructive: During W-II it was used by various Nazi organisations, including, among others, the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division, the 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland.
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The Black Sun |
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The Black Sun (German Schwarze Sonne), or Sonnenrad (German for "Sun Wheel"), is an esoteric and occult symbol and has been used in a sun wheel mosaic incorporated into a floor of Wewelsburg Castle during the Nazi era. It is today it is being used in neo-Nazi circles. "Black Sun" (Chorne Sontse) is the title of the newspaper published by the Azov Battalion.
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Synthesis: Azov Batallion badge |
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The badge of the Azov batallion combines the Wolfsangel rune with the Ukrainian trident, the sea, and, in the background, the symbol of the Black Sun.
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The Lion of Galizia |
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To get back to Ukrainian veterans and SS uniforms - this is the badge of the 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division Galizien, a Ukrainian volunteer unit recruited from Galizia. The below image, taken in Lviv in 2013, shows fans of the West-Ukrainian football club FC Karpaty Lviv showing colour in a match against FC Zorya Luhansk, from the ethnic Russian eastern Ukraine. Considering that the 14th Waffen SS Division was encircled and destroyed fighting the Red Army at Brody, the message could hardly be clearer. |
That list is incomplete, but comprehensive enough to make the point: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck ...
♦ A brief late history of Ukraine's brown soup and the Wolfsangel
Symbolic continuity ...
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| SNPU flag (Svoboda predecessor, 1999 - 2004) and PoU (2006 - present) |
Svoboda Logo
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Azov Batallion Logo
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Azov Batallion flag
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In Ukraine the Wolfsangel symbol was used by SNPU (Social-National Party of Ukraine) till 2004 and is currently used by the Neo-Nazi Social-National Assembly and the Azov Battalion.
The party was co-founded in 1991 by Andriy Parubiy and Oleh Tyahnybok. In 2004 Tyahnybok became sole leader of the SNPU, and replaced the Wolfsangel with the symbol imitating the Tryzub and renamed the Party Svoboda. The SNPU's paramilitary arm Patriot of Ukraine (PoU) that had been founded in 1999 was dissolved on the occasion.
It was refounded in 2006. PoU defines itself as a 'revolutionary vanguard of the Ukrainian social-nationalistic movement' that pursues the goal of 'a uniracial and uninational society'. Social-Nationalism as in Leninism-Marxism.
At the end of 2013, at the beginning of the Euromaidan protest movement, the PoU created the Right Sector along with other far-right and nationalist parties and groups, including: Trident of Stepan Bandera (Dmytro Yarosh), UNA-UNSO (Oleksandr Muzychko) and others.
These paramilitaries, organized in 100-man company-sized units called “sotins” or “hundreds” did most of the brutal streetfighting against Ukrainian riot police, eventually forcing Yanukovych and his administration to run for their lives.
The Azov Batallion is one of the volunteer units that then emerged from these paramilitaries to fight for the Ukrainian nationalist cause in the Ukrainian civil war. Azov uses the old flag of the SNPU/PoU. The continuity is not accidental but entirely deliberate.
♦ Outlook
Ukrainian ultranationalists are today the most fervent and vocal opponents of the Minsk II Agreement from 11 February 2015. It is an open question whether they can be controlled.
Excerpt from an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission report from 12 April 2015:
"At 9.35hrs on 12 April, upon arrival at Donetsk railway station (“Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled, 8km north-west of Donetsk city centre), the SMM witnessed heavy fighting between “DPR” and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in areas near the city visible from its position. Both the Ukrainian Armed Forces representative and the Russian Federation representative to the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) told the SMM that the Ukrainian side (assessed to be the Right Sector volunteer battalion) earlier had made an offensive push through the line of contact towards Zhabunki (“DPR”-controlled, 14km west-north-west of Donetsk), but the SMM was not able to verify this."
The revolutionary vanguard of the Ukrainian social-nationalist movement sees a ceasefire as treason and has as a result violated Minsk II frequently and is in no mood for an armistice. On 21 June 2015 Right Sector posted on their web site:
"We demand that the Poroshenko regime reject the Minsk agreements, and renew the offensive military operations aimed at liberating occupied territories [in eastern Ukraine],"
So far, Poroshenko seems intent to adhere to Minsk II. But then, for how long will he matter? He has apparently taken the unusual step to consult the Ukrainian constitutional court to clarify that the removal by force of his predecessor, the evil Yanukovych, was illegal. Quote from the document (unavailable in english):
"I ask the court to acknowledge that the law ‘on the removal of the presidential title from Viktor Yanukovych’ as unconstitutional"
Curiouser and curioser.