New Zealand mosque attacker may have had ties with the Ukrainian Azov battalion

The are possible links between the New Zealand mosque attacker Brent Tarrant and a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist white supremacist paramilitary group called the Azov Battalion.

The Azov Battalion

The Azov Battalion is described by Wikipedia in part: " In 2014, it gained notoriety after allegations emerged of torture and war crimes, as well as neo-Nazi sympathies and usage of associated symbols by the regiment itself, as seen in their logo featuring the Wolfsangel, one of the original symbols used by the German Nazi Party. In 2014, around 10-20% of the unit were neo-Nazis.[9] The U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2018 blocking military aid to Azov on the grounds of its white supremacist ideology.[10][11] At the same time, members of the regiment come from 22 countries and are of various backgrounds.[12]"

The Daily Telegraph claims that the Azov Battalion's extremist politics and professional English social media pages have attracted foreign fighters. This includes people from Brazil, Ireland, Italy, UK, France, the US, Greece, Sweden, Spain and Russia.

The Azov Battalion appears to be emerging as a critical node in the global right-wing violent extremist movement (RWE) as shown by the presence of foreign fighters from numerous nations who are trained in the battalion. The group retains its own Western Outreach Office used to help recruit and attract foreign fighters. The foreigners travel to train and connect with the group. Operatives from the Outreach Office travel around Europe to promote the Battalion and its white supremacy ideology.

The group has also established youth camps, sporting recreation centers, and far-right education programs.

Tarrant's connection to the Azov Battalion

Tarrant's manifesto claims he visited the Ukraine during his many travels abroad. The flak jacket that Tarrant wore during his assault has the Wolf's angel symbol one of the early symbols of the Nazi party and used by the Azov Battalion. Tarrant claimed that he was also in touch with the Anders Breivik the Norwegian terrorist. He also visited sites where there were historic battles between Christians and Muslims no doubt prompted by and reinforcing his anti-Muslim views. It remains to be seen if there is evidence of further ties between Tarrant and the Azov Battalion.

The phenomenon of foreign fighters

While foreign fighters are often associated with jihadists such as ISIS, foreign fighters exist across many different ideologies and groups. There are foreign fighters assisting the Kurds for example in Syria. Shia militants travel from several countries to fight in Syria. The outreach of the Azov Battalion shows that now RWE networks are recruiting fighters worldwide to spread their cause.

Globalization of the RWE movement

The Azov Battalion is forging links with other RWE groups and has hosted visits from ultra-nationalist organizations such as members of the Rise Above Movement (R.A.M.) in the US and also British National Action from the UK. Several R.A.M. members in the US were recently indicted by the FBI for their role in violently attacking counter-protesters during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA in August of 2017

Tarrant was not just a lone actor but someone who is the product of a broad network of right-wing violent extremists. If the evidence does ultimately show that Tarrant actually went to the Ukraine to train with like-minded people than this might be the first terrorist act of a foreign fighter trained by a right-wing terrorist group. Tarrant was not a New Zealand citizen. The international community needs to realize existence and danger of these networks.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

U.S. to train alleged neo-fascist Azov Brigade in the Ukraine

Many in the U.S. Congress favor helping Ukraine in its battle against Russian-supported rebels in the east of the country. However, some of the militia groups associated with the struggle have links to militia that are neo-Nazi or Nazi sympathizers.

As a recent article puts the issue:

Though many of those neo-fascist fighters in Ukraine hearken back to popular figures in Ukrainian history who allied with the Nazis, few Americans and even fewer American policymakers typically cast a fond gaze at the ideology or history of the Third Reich. Thus, the dilemma: give up support for the neo-fascist militias and be seen as weak in standing up to Russia or support the militias and be seen as getting into bed with murderous neo-Nazis.

The first strategy of the Congress was to support all the militias, while hoping the press did not notice. This did not work out because the Associated Press and other media noticed that one of the militia groups being supported, the Azoz Battalion, actually uses an emblem from Nazi Germany.

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov,. said on his Facebook page that the Azov Battalion was one of the units to be trained by the US at a base in western Ukraine. The project will involve about 290 US paratroopers and about 900 Ukrainian guardsmen.

The Azov Battaliion is a volunteer militia that is part of the Ukrainian National Guard. The group has been quite effective in battle and has kept the city of Mariupol from being taken over by the rebels. It answers to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and has close connections with the the Ukrainian intelligence agency SBU. It turns over any prisoners it takes to the SBU and provides intelligence. The Daily Beast has an interview with a sergeant from the group, Ivan Kharkiv. He plays down the neo-Nazi links of the group. While the interview was taking place the paper reports this event:As he speaks a young soldier walks over. Kharkiv introduces him. While shaking hands a large black tattoo becomes particularly visible on the young man’s extended upper bicep. The tattoo is an image of the Nazi eagle atop a black swastika.

The revelations that neo-Nazi groups or Nazi sympathizers were being funded led Congressmen John Conyers and Ted Yoho to submit an amendment to the House Defense Appropriations bill that would limit "arms, training, and other assistance to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia, the Azov." The amendment passed in a unanimous vote in the US House of Representatives. However, in the final bill the amendment was gone. The Department of Defense successfully lobbied to have the ban removed.

The Pentagon claims the Conyers/Yoho amendment was not needed since legislation already exists — the Leahy law that would prevent the funding of Azov. However, the Leahy law only covers groups that the US Secretary of State has credible evidence of having committed a gross violation of human rights. This would be a much more limited ban than that envisioned by the Conyers/Yoho amendment. Since the U.S. was planning to train the Azov battalion in spite of the Leahy Law it should have been clear that the amendment was not redundant as claimed by the Pentagon. The Pentagon no doubt wants to fund the Battalion because it is one of the more effective forces against the rebels.

The government of Petro Poroshenko itself often faces problems with right-wing militias. It has even engaged in open conflict with the Right Sector militia.