| The brigade with literal Nazi symbols as their main insignia. It's not a "literal Nazi" symbol. Importantly, it has a reverse orientation, and different proportion of its segments when compared with the Wolfsangel symbol. When you hold the two up together -- the difference is quite noticeable. And even more importantly -- it just doesn't mean what you want it to mean. Azov maintains it wasn't derived from the Wolfsangel symbol, and is adamant that it is not intended as a symbol of Nazi affiliation or of support for Nazi ideology. In fact they say it derives from the abbreviation "National Idea", which means yes, they are self-described nationalists -- but not with any Nazi affiliation of the sort that you're trying to scare us with. From Wikipedia: Andreas Umland, a scholar from the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies, told Deutsche Welle that though it had far-right connotations, the Wolfsangel was not considered a fascist symbol by the population in Ukraine.[114] In 2022 political scientist Ivan Gomza wrote in Krytyka that the symbolism of the regiment had become associated with a "successful fighting unit that protects Ukraine", and wrote that other connotations are lost on most people in Ukraine.
You don't have to like Azov or their beliefs. But the simple fact is, they do not use Nazi insignia, and when asked, their leaders uniformly state that they explicitly reject Nazism and antisemitism, and that they have Jewish members (and in fact a lot of native Russian speakers).They've even jumped on the pro-Israel bandwagon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vMAo_zOgBA If you keep digging you can also find a precious video of Azov commanders line dancing with orthodox rabbis on one of their visits. You're delusional if you ... The irony here that on this particular subject at least -- the one who's been played and propagandized is you. That's why the usual actors who keep repeating the "Azov == Nazi" narrative based on trigger symbols, marginal sample data and other misleading information keep on doing so. Precisely because they know that it doesn't have to align with the facts -- and either way it will push your buttons, and spike your cortisol levels to exactly the range where they need them to be. |
Why not just change the symbols because your biggest supporters and allies have issues with it and the history behind it (you know very well the history of Ukrainian collaboration with Germany in WWII and where these symbols come from. Sure it's complicated but that's where it comes from). If NATO can't show pictures of soldiers due to the insignia, if journalists have to ask the soldiers to remove certain patches before interviewing them, why do they wear them at all?
Just because they stand next to Jews doesn't mean they aren't the kinds of people who love far-right Nazi symbols and what they mean. Said Qutb moved to the US and spent lots of time around Americans before starting an anti-Western ideological group.
But all this could be eliminated if the insistence of Azov on their tarnished names and symbols were removed. Why do they cling to them so much? Why are they so resistant to such a sensible request? These are the things that make people hesitant to support them, and they are extremely aware of it. This is the reason the US had a ban on arming Azov for years till very recently. They know what it looks like and they fight to keep it that way. That should raise some concern for anyone.