CAF should not train Ukrainian neo-nazis

With the media focused on the violence in Israel and the Gaza strip, the war in Ukraine has been relegated to something of a sideshow.

However, as a nation, Canada remains one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters as that nation continues its bloody struggle to oust the Russian invaders.

To date Canada has donated more than $8 billion to Ukraine’s war effort, with $2.4 billion of that aid being in the form of weapons and munitions.

There are presently more than 300 Canadian Armed Forces members assisting with the NATO training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in both the UK and Poland.

It is estimated that through Op UNIFIER – the mission to provide military training and capacity building to Ukraine – the CAF have trained nearly 40,000 Ukrainian recruits since 2015.

Throughout that lengthy period of close co-operation, there has been a recurring issue involving the presence of neo-nazis within the ranks of some units of the Ukrainian military.

AZOV BATTALION

The most prominent among these was the notorious Azov battalion – later regiment and now a full brigade.

Azov was founded in 2014 as a private militia compromised of soccer fans led by Andriy Biletsky. Hailed as the “white leader,” Biletsky has reportedly claimed to be leading the “white races in a crusade against the Jewish Untermensch.”

By the time CAF instructors began deploying to Ukraine in 2015, Azov had already been absorbed into the official Ukraine National Guard.

Assurances were given at the time that our Canadian soldiers would not be involved in training Azov battalion members because of their neo-nazi beliefs. However, by October 2021, a report from George Washington University revealed that extremists in the Ukraine military were bragging about their training by Canadians as part of Op UNIFIER.

Following that revelation, David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen reported that Canadian officers met with and were briefed by leaders of the Azov battalion. Apparently, the Canadians were well aware of the Azov leaders’ neo-nazi beliefs, but their only real concern was that the media would expose the fact that the meeting took place.

Unfortunately for them, these officers and diplomats allowed themselves to be photographed with the Azov leaders. Those images were later used by Azov as propaganda.

In 2022, Radio Canada further reported evidence that soldiers of Azov – identified by their unit patches and insignia – had participated in training with CAF instructors in 2020 at the NATO funded Zolochiv training center in western Ukraine.

DEFLECTED RESPONSIBILITY

While emphatically insisting to media that all steps were taken by the CAF instructors to identify potential extremists, they also conceded that Ukraine is a sovereign country and as such the vetting of recruits is their responsibility.

This of course is a total cop out in terms of deflected responsibility. Canada is supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the banner of ‘shared values.’

Those who would glorify Nazi ideology and purport to create a racially pure Ukraine, in no way represent Canadian values.

The Azov brigade’s fanatical but doomed resistance against Russian invaders during the siege of Mariupol was heralded as a courageous feat of arms.

However, the unit’s neonazi ideology cannot be overlooked or forgotten.

We made the mistake in Afghanistan of re-instating the warlords and their militias as the ruling authority because they were anti-taliban. However, we forgot that the people of Afghanistan had actually backed the Taliban against the warlords because they were seen to be the lesser of two evils.

It is not interfering in Ukraine’s sovereignty for Canada to insist on them vetting out neo-nazis from the ranks of their military. We are not obliged to train these soldiers, Ukraine asked for our assistance.

To not stipulate a “no Nazi” policy would be an erosion of Canadian values. of Canadian values.