On July 21, the tour of the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigadein Europe began. It is one of the most famous and experiencedassault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose fightersliterally went through fire and water, participated in battles on thehottest and most strategically important sections of the front.
Several well-known soldiers of the brigade, who came directlyfrom the front line, will hold meetings with representatives ofvarious governments, military organizations and public figures ineight European cities within the “DVIZH” event.
Perhaps, their main goal is to attract support, attention to theheroism of Ukrainian soldiers, as well as to the needs of theUkrainian army. However, already at the very beginning of the tour, Russian propaganda mouthpieces are intensifying theirefforts to discredit it.
Russian media and puppet columnists abroad could not produceanything other than a well-known tale about “neo-Nazis” (orperhaps they did not even try). The idea is to cement in the mindsof the reader and viewer the impression, that the 3rd SeparateAirborne Brigade is a radical and dangerous military formation.
The problem is that in early June, the United States lifted the banon the supply of weapons and trainings for the 12th Special ForcesBrigade Azov, whose veterans, including former leader AndriyBeletsky, became the founders of the 3rd Separate AirborneBrigade in 2022.
Azov was officially formed in 2014 in Berdiansk as a Battalion ofthe Special Tasks Patrol Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later, the unit was upgraded to a regiment and officially enrolled to the National Guard of Ukraine, and in February 2023 it becamea brigade.
After significant changes and stuff purges in the Azov Regimentto eradicate ultra-right views, that begun in 2014, the StateDepartment concluded that it is time to lift the ban as allaccusations of human rights violations and general radicalizationare not relevant. In this regard, Russian propagandists and theirforeign colleges’ statements look, frankly speaking, like the Kremlin’s poor attempt to revive the agenda about neo-Nazis inUkraine, primarily in Europe.
In fact, it has become very difficult to support Vladimir Putin’sthesis, which served as one of the reasons for him to start a waragainst Ukraine in February 2022, as no facts or arguments back this up.
In fact, over almost 900 days of war in Ukraine, the Russian armyand its leadership have violated the Geneva Conventions and theUN Charter thousands of times, proving themselves to bemarauders, rapists, and hangmen. For example, the recent missilestrike on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital.
There are many radical individuals with far-right and chauvinisticviews in the Russian armed forces, some of them have specialbody marks (swastikas).
Just take the infamous Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group(DShRG) Rusich alone, the current commander of which is anopen neo-Nazi, who personally participated in the cruel andinhuman torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians.
It is also worth remembering the liquidated Dmitry Utkin, thecommander of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), itsowner Yevgeny Prigozhin’s number two. There was more thanone Nazi symbol on his body, but this did not prevent him fromattending ceremonial events in the Kremlin and even receiving theHero of Russia.
To blame others of what you do and support is the official policyof Moscow. No matter how stereotypical are such accusations, when the entire population is in line with the philosophy of “neo-Nazism”, it has some effect. As it became known, for securityreasons, the previously announced meetings of the 3rd SeparateAir Assault Brigade in Berlin, Rotterdam, Brussels and Colognewere cancelled. It means that the simple Russian tale aboutbloodthirsty “neo-Nazis in Ukraine” still works.
