US Investigations Found No Evidence Of Human Rights Violations, Ukrainian Azov Brigade Could Use American Weapons

Member of the Azov Brigade in Mariupol. (Wikimedia Commons/Carl RidderstrOtle)

JAKARTA - The results of the United States investigation found no evidence of human rights abuses committed by the Ukrainian Azov Brigade, paving the way for the military unit to use US weapons and get training, the State Department said, citing Russia's disinformation on discrediting the unit.

US law prohibits foreign security forces from US military aid if they have committed gross human rights violations, but a review of Ukraine's 12th Azov Brigade National Guard Special Forces allowed them to receive US funds, the department said in a statement.

"After a thorough review, the 12th Ukrainian Special Forces Azov Brigade passedkuray's examination as carried out by the US State Department," the department wrote, referring to Leahy's Law.

The move allows President Joe Biden's Administration to lift a decade-long ban on the use of US weapons by Ukrainian military units, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the decision.

The Azov Brigade, rooted in the right-wing and ultra-nationalists, is part of the Ukrainian National Guard and expanded from the battalion formed in 2014 and fought against Russian-backed separatists who broke away from eastern Ukraine.

The unit said in a statement Western weapons would enhance the combat capabilities of their fighters and save lives. They expressed their gratitude for the efforts made to lift the ban despite Russian propaganda about the group.

The Brigade was echoed in Ukraine for defending the country from the Russian invasion and particularly the southern city of Mariupol.

"Russia's disinformation has actively attempted to discredit the Azov Special Forces Brigade" by trying to equate it with the 2014 militias that disbanded in 2015, the State Department said.

"The composition of the Azov Special Forces Brigade is very different," he continued.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the move "very negative."

Peskov, in a briefing with reporters, called the brigade forces an "ultra-nationalist armed unit."

"The sudden change of position by Washington suggests that they will not shy away from anything in their efforts to pressure Russia, use Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as tools in their hands, and are even ready to tease neo-Nazi," Peskov said.

While on the other hand, there was no immediate comment from the Kyiv representative.