Summary
The “Azov Movement” («азовським рухом») is a group of political, military and paramilitary units with an origin in the Patriot of Ukraine and Social-National Assembly organisations formed by far-right activist Andriy Biletsky.
The Azov Movement is not a formal organisation, but a political term, and it’s accuracy is disputed:
While the connections between its precursor political and military units, Social-National Assembly and Black Corps, are not questioned, Azov’s successor branches, the Azov Battalion, Azov Regiment and Azov Brigade have claimed to not be affiliated with the politics of the SNA’s successors, the Azov Civil Corps and National Corps.
We have included Azov Battalion and Azov Brigade on this page as we considered their denials of affiliations to the National Corps to lack credibility, as there is still a clear crossover between the two organisations.
Azov’s military and political wings formally separated in 2016, when the far-right National Corps party was founded. The Azov battalion had by then been integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard.
An effective fighting force that’s very much involved in the current conflict, the battalion has a history of neo-Nazi leanings, which have not been entirely extinguished by its integration into the Ukrainian military.
In its heyday as an autonomous militia, the Azov Battalion was associated with White supremacists and neo-Nazi ideology and insignia. It was especially active in and around Mariupol in 2014 and 2015. CNN teams in the area at the time reported Azov’s embrace of neo-Nazi emblems and paraphernalia.
In a statement to CNN, the Azov regiment said it “appreciates and respects Andriy Biletsky as the regiment’s founder and first commander, but we have nothing to do with his political activities and the National Corps party” – adding the former commander never made such comments.
The political party Biletsky formed, the National Corps, which the US Department of State described in 2018 as a nationalist hate group, “is essentially the spine of what we today call the Azov movement,” Kacper Rekawek, a research fellow with the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo, told CNN.
“The Azov movement is a dangerous key player of the transnational extreme-right and has served as a network hub for several years now, with strong ties to far-right extremists in many European Union countries and the United States,” Ritzmann said.
The affiliations with the National Corps of military branches outside the central Azov Battalion/Regiment/Brigade unit, such as the 3rd Brigade and Azov-Dnipro, are not disputed, as they were directly founded by National Corps members.
Branches
Political Wings
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Social-National Assembly (precursor, disbanded)
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Azov Civil Corps (previously, reformed as National Corps)
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National Corps (current)
Publishers
- Literary Club Flame (current)
- Landmark Publishing House (current, merged into Rainshouse Initiative)
- Rainshouse Initiative (current)
International Wings
- Wotanjugend (Russian) (current)
- Intermarium Support Group (current)
- Reconquista Movement (International) (current)
- The New Prometheism (International) (curent)
Military Wings
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Patriot of Ukraine (precursor, reformed as Black Corps)
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Black Corps (precursor, reformed as Azov Battalion)
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Azov Battalion (previously, reformed as Azov Brigade)
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Azov Engineering Group (previously, reformed as Arey Engineering group, ties cut with Azov)
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Azov Brigade (current, disputed, merged into the Azov Corps)
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Azov Corps (current, disputed)
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Azov-Kyiv (previously, reformed as 3rd Brigade)
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3rd Separate Assault Brigade (current, merged into 3rd Army Corps)
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Azov-Dnipro (current, partly merged into the 3rd Brigade)
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Kraken Regiment (current)
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Lubart Brigade (current, merged into the Azov Corps)
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Veterans Brotherhood (current)
Paramilitary Wings
- National Militia (previously, reformed as Centuria)
- Centuria (current)
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