The Department of Defense promised a thorough review of Canada’s mission in Ukraine after CTVNews.ca approached them in October 2021 for comment on a report from George Washington University that found that extremists in the Ukrainian army boasted that they were training as part UNIFIER Mode.
This group – which calls itself the Centuria Military Order, or simply Centuria – has ties to the Azov far-right movement.
The Canadian military said it was concerned about the report and denied any knowledge that extremists had taken part in the training, adding that it had no mandate to control soldiers training from other countries.
The following month, a survey by the Ottawa Citizen found that not only did Canadian officials meet and brief themselves with Azov Battalion leaders in 2018, but they did not denounce the unit’s neo-Nazi beliefs – despite warnings about their colleagues’ views. – and their main concern was that the media would reveal that the meeting had taken place. Officers and diplomats allowed themselves to be photographed with battalion officials, which was later used online by Azov as propaganda.
The federal government, which has spent more than $ 890 million on training Ukrainian forces through Operation UNIFIER, has repeatedly stated that it does not and will never train Azov-linked soldiers.
However, a recent Radio Canada investigation into documents related to Canada’s mission in Ukraine found evidence that Azov Regiment soldiers, identified by patches on their clothing and other insignia, participated in training with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) just 2020 at the Zolochiv training center supported by the West in Western Ukraine.
In a series of messages to CTVNews.ca, a spokesman for the Azov regiment currently fighting in Mariupol, Ukraine, said they had been excluded as a team from training with Canadian trainers in Op. UNIFIER but that they “wrote a program” for their own courses and “were instructors in all disciplines at the training center of the National Guard of Ukraine”, confirming the previous report of Radio Canada.
The spokesman did not answer questions about individual members of the Azov regiment receiving training through Op. UNIFIER.
However, CTVNews.ca was able to find information on the social media account of the head of the regime Azov Kyrylo Berkal, the insignia “Kirt”, of members trained with Canadian trainers, where they refer to the “collaboration” with Op. UNIFIER in 2019. Berkal’s social media features Nazi symbols and other extremist views.
CTVNews.ca asked the government if it would re-evaluate its special relationship with Ukraine, its training orders for Op. UNIFIER or review the deadly aid sent to Ukraine in the light of recent reports. A spokesman for the Canadian Joint Chiefs of Staff (CAFs) said in an email to CTVNews.ca earlier this month that “all members of UNIFIER are being briefed to help identify right-wing extremist patches and insignia. ».
The statement said that if Canadian soldiers “suspect” that their Ukrainian peers or counterparts have racist views or belong to far-right extremists, they “immediately leave.”
However, the statement reiterated that when it comes to checking foreign troops, “there is no burden of proof for the CAF to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The CAF said it was taking “every reasonable measure” to ensure that no extremist training was provided, but said in a statement that “Ukraine is a sovereign country” responsible for recruiting and controlling its own security forces.
Addressing concerns that extremist elements in the Ukrainian military now have access to much more lethal firepower as countries such as Canada equip Ukraine from Russian invasion, the CAF said military aid donations are provided “exclusively” to the Ministry of Defense. and that these donations are “controlled by end-user certificates issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine”.
Christian Leuprecht, a security analyst and professor at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University, said “Canadians can not choose who they do and are not trained in” in advising and aid missions like the one in Ukraine.
“Whenever you have a nationalist conflict, you will have extremists. “You will have people with extremist views taking part in the battle,” Leuprecht said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca. “So this is not particularly about Ukraine, and I think the problem that Canadians have is that they do not have the luxury of choosing a mission.” whether you are on a mission or not “.
Leuprecht said Canada’s military resources are too expensive to set up a control mechanism in Ukraine and that the government would have to weigh the risks of carrying out a training mission.
“As for the big exchange, it is never acceptable to have extremists among us,” he said. “At the same time, when you train hundreds or thousands of people for six and a half years in an Eastern European country, it is inevitable that you will meet some people who are xenophobic or extremist.”
However, Leuprecht said when the army continued Op. UNIFIER, there should be serious discussions about how to deal with the Azov movement and other far-right battalions that are considered defenders of post-war Ukraine, expanding their ranks.
“We have obviously learned some hard lessons here that make us all feel uncomfortable as Canadians; if or when we re-engage with Ukraine in the advice and assistance mission, how is it not going to activate this particular battalion or its affiliates,” he said. “It will be an important question in the future, precisely about the heroic status of the battalion.”
A photo that appears on the social media account of Azov Regiment member Kyrylo Berkal appears to show Canadian educators working on their training.
A photo that appears on the social media account of Azov Constitution member Kyrylo Berkal appears to show Canadian educators engaging in their education (Facebook)
WHAT IS THE AZOV MOVEMENT?#
The Azov movement was created in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and was primarily a paramilitary unit of radical nationalists, who – including its founder and leader Andriy Biletsky – openly supported anti-Semitic and other far-right ideology. The movement has attacked anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings, the media, art exhibitions, foreign students, the LGBTQ2S + community and the Roma.
A 2016 report released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights describes allegations against the Azov militia, known as the “Azov Battalion” of torture and other war crimes in the conflict that erupted in 2014. the Azov Order in its ranks – where it is now more widely known as the Azov Regiment.
Recent attempts to distance the current repetition of Azov’s constitution from politicians and academics from his infamous roots and current ties to the far right “contradict important facts”, according to the investigative journalist and original author. at Centuria. , Oleksiy Kuzmenko in a series of emails sent to CTVNews.ca.
“Azov’s constitution is clearly an extremely capable unit of the National Guard of Ukraine. “In my opinion, it is a highly professional wing of the Azov movement that is integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine, but it is not depoliticized, nor is it just a tactical unit, as some claim.”
Kuzmenko said the unit proudly bears recognizable far-right symbols on its insignia and continues to be closely associated with the larger, internationally active Azov movement and its political wing, the National Assembly. He also said that he did not know that the Ukrainian army was checking for extremism in its ranks.
The National Assembly party is “openly hostile to liberal democracy, universal suffrage [and] “Minority rights,” Kuzmenko said. “The party is not explicitly neo-Nazi, but the Azov movement includes explicit neo-Nazi elements. “To be clear, the National Assembly party has almost negligible electoral support, but at the same time has long enjoyed impunity for violence.”
Kuzmenko said that those pushing for the “liberation” of the Constitution from the far-right legacy and its ties “obviously want the public to believe that its obvious ties to the Azov movement, the use of the far right, white nationalist symbols, etc.” “it means nothing,” he said. “If you buy it, I have a bridge to sell you.”
However, Kuzmenko said it was important to note that many Ukrainians who did not support far-right ideology had joined forces bearing Azov name variations since Russia invaded, wanting to defend their country – but the National Assembly party pays efforts to educate newcomers to his ideology.
“I believe that the current allegations; that [Azov] “The constitution is not far-right; it aims to make support for these fighters more enjoyable in the West,” Kuzmenko said. “And to bury the fact that the Ukrainian government has long embraced a far-right military unit as part of the Ukrainian National Guard.”
However, Kuzmenko said he did not believe there was any reason “why it would be difficult to openly admit that these forces… [are] very extreme right and that they (the Azov movement) are also bravely fighting Russia whose …
