Shocked observers including a US Congressional candidate, a member of the European Parliament, and thousands of outraged social media users took to Twitter on Sunday to express their horror as a video emerged showing pro-Ukraine demonstrators cheering on the Ukrainian National Guard’s notorious Azov Battalion.
In the video which has been seen more than 1.3 million times since it was posted, over 100 attendees of a 'Stand With Ukraine' rally in Lower Manhattan repeatedly chant “Azov” in honour of the notorious regiment whose founder once claimed Ukraine’s “historic mission… is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival”—a “crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.”
But Brian P Kavanagh - a Democratic politician who represents Lower Manhattan in the New York State senate and who was present at the event - rejected the idea as "crazy" that the Russian Federation's President, Vladimir Putin, is genuinely "trying to de-Nazify the Donbass". In an interview published by Timcast, Kavanagh attempted to downplay the presence of Nazis in Ukraine, claiming that “all countries that allow freedom of expression have objectionable political movements”. Despite acknowledging the presence of “genuinely objectionable things” in the ranks of the Ukrainian regime’s military, Kavanagh indicated that they were little more than a Russian government “pretext”.
Another attendee was more blunt, insisting the group which western outlets widely acknowledged as dangerous extremists before February 2022 were merely misunderstood “patriots”. The idea “[that] they're Nazis,” he claimed, “is part of Russian propaganda.”
However, a handful of outspoken alternative political figures in the West are apparently sceptical of Azov and claims by its Sieg-Heiling spokeswoman, Olena Semenyaka, made in 2018 that the group has become more “moderate” in recent years.
“Worrying times when #US + #EU Member States have no problem arming Nazis to the teeth,” wrote Irish member of the European Parliament, Mick Wallace, who alleged “the Mainstream Media are complicit”.
Another, Rebecca Parsons, a candidate for US Congress from Washington and a member of Democratic Socialists of America, wrote: “Loud cheers for Nazis in Manhattan. Where’s the outrage? Disgusting.”
Western corporate media outlets have declined thus far to report on the public show of support that supposedly progressive New York City has given for the Ukrainian regiment, which faces widespread accusations of torture, rape, and other alleged war crimes and which proudly uses neo-Nazi symbols.