Ukraine’s Azov Brigade has successfully completed its Leahy vetting process, making it eligible to receive weapons and training from the United States. The U.S. Department of State confirmed that a new analysis found no evidence of gross human rights violations committed by the unit, which is part of Ukraine’s National Guard.
To be eligible for U.S.-funded assistance, foreign military and police units must first undergo Leahy vetting, a process aimed at ensuring compliance with the Leahy Law. This law prohibits U.S. assistance to foreign security units if there is credible information that they have committed gross violations of human rights, such as arbitrary killings, torture, or rape.
Both the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Defense have separate yet similar sets of Leahy regulations, allowing funding to resume when a foreign government takes steps to correct the violations and hold perpetrators accountable.
The Azov Brigade’s successful vetting means it can now access U.S. arms on the same terms as other Ukrainian units. The brigade expressed its excitement on social media, stating that this development would increase its combat effectiveness and help save the lives of its personnel.
The Azov Brigade has its origins in the Azov Battalion, a nationalist volunteer militia whose insignia includes a white sun wheel and a black Wolfsangel symbol. These symbols have caused alarm in both the West and Russia, with President Vladimir Putin’s administration accusing Ukraine of embracing neo-Nazism.
Formed in 2014, the Azov Battalion fought alongside Ukrainian government forces against Russian-backed separatists for control over Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. It was later incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard and redesignated as the Azov Regiment.
In February 2022, Russia escalated its conflict with Ukraine by launching a “special military operation” to “de-Nazify” the country. The Azov Regiment became a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance through its defense of the Azozstal steel plant in Mariupol, a strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine.
The city fell after a nearly three-month Russian siege, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordering the defending soldiers to surrender. About 43 Azov members returned to Ukraine during a prisoner exchange a month later, but an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters remain in Russian captivity.
In February 2023, the unit was expanded and reformed into a brigade under the Offensive Guard program. Celebrated as heroes by Kyiv, the Azov Brigade has been portrayed by Moscow as a neo-Nazi group committing atrocities against the pro-Russian population of Donbas. In 2022, Russia’s highest court designated the unit a terrorist group.
The spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State emphasized that Russian disinformation has actively worked to discredit the Special Forces Azov Brigade and stressed that the brigade and its original militia have “significantly different” compositions.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, repeated the neo-Nazi accusations against the Azov Brigade in response to it passing Leahy vetting. He stated that this development further confirms Russia’s concerns about the spread of neo-Nazi ideas globally.