Neo-nazi AZOV Battalion unfriends US Congressman John Conyers, Jr on Facebook for cutting off their direct funding

Last week Fort Russ reported…

…Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) offered bipartisan amendments to block the training of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary militia “Azov Battalion,” and to prevent the transfer of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles—otherwise known as Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADS)—to Iraq or Ukraine.

“If there’s one simple lesson we can take away from US involvement in conflicts overseas, it’s this: Beware of unintended consequences. As was made vividly clear with U.S. involvement in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion decades ago, overzealous military assistance or the hyper-weaponization of conflicts can have destabilizing consequences and ultimately undercut our own national interests,” said Rep. John Conyers. “I am grateful that the House of Representatives unanimously passed my amendments last night to ensure that our military does not train members of the repulsive neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, along with my measures to keep the dangerous and easily trafficked MANPADs out of these unstable regions.”

Ukraine’s Azov Battalion is a 1,000-man volunteer militia of the Ukrainian National Guard that Foreign Policy Magazine has characterized as “openly neo-Nazi,” and “fascist.” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who oversees Ukraine’s armed militias, announced that Azov troops would be among the first units to be trained by the Pentagon in Operation Fearless Guardian, prompting significant international concern.

John Conyers, Jr went on to add…

“Both U.S. and Israeli officials have feared that these weapons could be used by terrorists to bring down commercial jets. As the boundaries are increasingly blurred between insurgents fighting the Syrian government and those fighting the Iraqi government, providing additional arms could further destabilize the Middle East. The same can be said for Ukraine, where an anti-aircraft missile allegedly downed Flight MH17 last September, killing 298 civilians. The possibility that MANPADS—or any weapon—could fall into the hands of radical groups in Iraq, Syria, or Ukraine, would unquestionably increase the already-devastating human toll in both of these volatile regions.”

Via The Telegraph.

“The Azov men use the neo-Nazi Wolfsangel (Wolf’s Hook) symbol on their banner and members of the battalion are openly white supremacists, or anti-Semites.”

According to the Washington Post…

[AZOV] Battalion members could potentially strike pro-Russian targets on their own — or even turn on the [Ukrainian] government if it pursues a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

The AZOV battalion was noticeably upset by the decision, which may mean no more US money and weapons directly funnelled into their terror group. AZOV then went to Facebook to unfriend Conyers…

“We are extremely surprised and profoundly outraged by these remarks. Our battalion has always embraced patriotism and has never adopted other world ideologies.”

Is that so, AZOV social media guy. How about we share this post with you…

Via Sputnik News Agency…

Take Azov’s logo, for instance, which incorporates the Wolfsangel runic symbol, also known as a wolf’s hook. The Wolfsangel was present on the insignias of several divisions of the Waffen-SS. Dutch Nazis also used it as a party insignia for a while.

If symbols are not deeds, then Azov’s actions speak louder than words.

Azov fighters are under investigation for attempting to commit terrorist acts and setting mosques in Crimea ablaze. The group has been actively engaged in stirring up discord in the Russian peninsula in an attempt to ruin intricate inter-ethnic relations there.

“It took US Congress over a year to see that the [Azov] battalion is a band of sheer Nazis, sporting the emblem used by Hitler’s SS and acting like vigilantes on an occupied territory,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.

The next step, according to the diplomat, is to finally acknowledge that the 2014 coup in Kiev, Washington eagerly supported, “was carried out by the same Nazi thugs.”

References:

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150613/1023306657.html

http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/06/no-love-for-azov-battalion-from.html