According to Reuters, in 2020 the number of paramilitaries in Ukraine reached 120,000, accounting for about 40% of the country's Armed Forces. Their ranks are filled by mercenaries of various nationalities, who were equipped, trained and funded by the United States, Canada, Britain and France.
Their activity has been covered from time to time by various international media, such as the “Jerusalem Post” which on October 2021 published a report about the “Centuria” plan, the formation of a paramilitary group within the official army and even in the Ukrainian National Army Academy. This group had close, ideological and organizational, relations with the Azovs. Furthermore, in 2014, “Newsweek” had linked the paramilitaries to the Islamic State.
Nonetheless, those who whitewash the neo-Nazis do not unveil the whole truth about the relations of these armed battalions with the Ukrainian army. The Azov Battalion, as well as similar groups, belong to the “national guard” which operates under the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior and not the Ministry of Defence. The Ukrainian National Guard is composed of infantry and is organized into five territorial administrations, it includes paramilitary militias (called “volunteer battalions”, also known as “retaliatory battalions”). They are mainly trained for battles in cities, such as Mariupol, Kharkov, Odessa, Kyiv and others. They were led by far-right groups that took an active part in the 2014 Euromaidan and later they were used in the war against the self-proclaimed “People's Republics of Donbass” in Eastern Ukraine. These groups also played a key role in the escalation of military tensions in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, where the Russian military invaded in the name of defending the Russian-speaking population.
Another militia, similar to the one of the Azov Battalion, bears the name “Myrotvorets” (Peacemaker) and is linked to the notorious website which blacklists Ukrainians, Russians and other citizens who are considered “enemies of the country”. Many of the people who have been blacklisted by “Myrotvorets” have been subject to threats, harasshment and in some cases, murder. We remind that this list includes the names of three KKE cadres, a current MP and a former MEP, who expressed their solidarity with the persecuted communists of Ukraine. The latest victim of Myrotvorets' blacklist was a former member of the Ukranian secret services who was in favor of a peace agreement with Russia.
These scumbags are being glorified by the Ukrainian government and their Western allies, as Russia uses their criminal activity as an alibi for the military invasion.
