Needless to say, Azov was outraged by the decision itself and the explanation US lawmakers provided. The group turned to Facebook to express the extent of its indignation.
"We are extremely surprised and profoundly outraged by these remarks. Our battalion has always embraced patriotism and has never adopted other world ideologies," the militia said in a statement.
ЗАЯВА ПОЛКУ АЗОВ З ПРИВОДУ УХВАЛИ ПАЛАТИ ПРЕДСТАВНИКІВ США10 червня Палата Представників США ухвалила правку з ініціат…
Posted by Батальйон спеціального призначення "Азов" — нова сторінка on 12 Июнь 2015 г.
And patriotism of a distinct but worrisome flavor it is.
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.
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."
