When the corporate media push for war, one of their main weapons is propaganda by omission.
In the case of the recent crisis in Ukraine, Western journalists have omitted key context about the expansion of NATO since the end of the Cold War, as well as US support for the Maidan coup in 2014 (FAIR.org, 1/28/22).
A third and crucial case of propaganda by omission relates to the integration of neo-Nazis into the Ukrainian armed forces (FAIR.org, 3/7/14, 1/28/22). If the corporate media reported more critically about Western support for the neo-Nazi-infested Ukrainian security services, and how these forces function as a front-line proxy of US foreign policy, public support for war might be reduced and military budgets called into greater question.
As recent coverage demonstrates, one way of resolving this issue is by not mentioning the inconvenient matter of Ukrainian neo-Nazis altogether.
The Azov Battalion
In 2014, the Azov Battalion was incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) to assist with fighting against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
At the time, the militia’s association with neo-Nazism was well documented: The unit used the Nazi-inspired Wolfsangel symbol as its logo, while its soldiers sported Nazi insignia on their combat helmets. In 2010, the Azov Battalion’s founder declared that Ukraine should “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen.”
The Azov Battalion is now an official regiment of the NGU, and operates under the authority of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
‘A granny with a gun’
Pointing out that people training the 79-year-old woman to use an assault weapon (London Times, 2/13/22) were members of a fascist force would have spoiled the heart-warming aspect of the image.
In mid-February 2022, as tensions mounted between the US and Russia over Ukraine, the Azov Battalion organized a military training course for Ukrainian civilians in the port city of Mariupol.
Images of Valentyna Konstantynovska, a 79-year-old Ukrainian learning to handle an AK-47, soon featured across the Western broadcast and print media.
The figure of a pensioner lining up to protect her homeland made for an emotive image, collapsing the conflict into a simple good versus evil binary, while adding weight to US and British intelligence assessments forecasting an immediate full-scale Russian invasion.
Such a narrative was not to be ruined by reference to the neo-Nazi group training her. Indeed, mention of the Azov Battalion was largely erased from mainstream coverage of the event.
The BBC (2/13/22), for instance, showed a clip of “civilians lining up for a few hours’ military training with the National Guard,” with International Correspondent Orla Guerin describing Konstantynovska endearingly as “a granny with a gun.” Though Azov Battalion insignia was visible in the report, Guerin made no reference to it, and the report ends perversely with an NGU combatant helping a child to load an ammunition magazine.
The BBC (2/13/22) depicts a young boy getting a lesson on how to load ammo—without mentioning that the training was sponsored by a far-right paramilitary.
The BBC (12/13/14) has not always been so reluctant to discuss the Azov Battalion’s neo-Nazism. In 2014, the broadcaster noted that its leader “considers Jews and other minorities ‘sub-human’ and calls for a white, Christian crusade against them,” while it “sports three Nazi symbols on its insignia.”
Both MSNBC (2/14/22) and ABC News (2/13/22) also reported from Mariupol, showing similar video footage of an Azov Battalion member teaching Konstantynovska to use a rifle. As with the BBC, no mention was made of the regiment’s far right association.
Sky News updated its initial report (2/13/22) to include mention of the “far right” trainers (2/14/22), while Euronews (2/13/22) made a rare mention of the Azov Battalion in its initial coverage.
‘Glorification of Nazism’
There was a time when Western news outlets (Daily Telegraph, 8/11/14) recognized the Azov Battalion as a neo-Nazi force rather than a source of photo ops.
The printed press fared little better. On February 13, UK newspapers the London Times and the Daily Telegraph ran front-page spreads showing Konstantynovska preparing her weapon, without any reference to the Azov Battalion running the training course.
Worse still, both the London Times and the Daily Telegraph had already reported on the militia’s neo-Nazi associations. In September 2014, the Times described the Azov Battalion as “a group of heavily armed men” with “at least one sporting a Nazi logo…preparing for the defense of Mariupol,” adding that the group had been “formed by a white supremacist.” For its part, the Daily Telegraph described the battalion in 2014 as “the neo-Nazi brigade fighting pro-Russian separatists.”
In light of NATO’s recent posturing in defense of Ukraine, the fact of the Azov Battalion’s neo-Nazism seems to have become an inconvenience.
On December 16, 2021, only the US and Ukraine voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the “glorification of Nazism,” while the United Kingdom and Canada abstained. There can be little doubt that this decision was made with the conflict in Ukraine in mind.
In the doctrine of Western militarism, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And if that friend happens to enlist neo-Nazis, Western corporate media can be relied on to look the other way.
Innocence by disassociation
Oh my , America:
Pushing Nazis on the world , are you? Didn’t America already deal with that once before?
Oh wait—why are we working with Nazis now? Joe, Joe Biden, I know you’ve never been in a war, so you want to start one working with Nazis? Is SOS Blinken’s name a real name or does he not see well and is always Blinking? Surely you could find someone with better insight, right, Joe? Joe?
Three cheers for Putin! He’s an anti-fascist! He’s going to bring prosperity and peace to the world. He’s going to clean them Nazis out of Ukraine and fix the country. Take that all you empire loving westerners! /s
Luckily, the US Armed Forces do not include any right-wing zealots or neo-nazis. Because if it were different, then Russia would have every right to attack the US. The fact that they have not done so proves the opening assertion.
Really?
US Armed Forces have no zealots or new nazis?
I guess you missed the ones in D.C. on January 6th, 2020.
You are so right. The American neo Nazi armed forces attacked and killed American citizens on Jan 6.
Americans not alone with neo Nazi in law enforcement or military. Just look how Canada deals with the most peaceful protest in its history, maybe even the world. For 3weeks trucker cleaned the city, support businesses that stayed open, fed and clothes the homeless, while hosting the safest and most amazing street festival Canada has ever seen. No even a single window was broken during the trucker time in Ottawa. Yet let the neo Nazi police loose and grandmothers of native decent get trampled by horses are broken wrist that when untreated for 5hrs, reporters shot with rubber bullets, the list goes on.
Nazis love any and all ‘authoritarian’ organizations – it’s in their dna – working for Russia is the Wagner group – and Nazis are amazingly useful to authoritarians – they can so easily compartmentalize ideology and just make things go boom – pure manifestation of the puerile, manchild, bonding nature of combat
This is the first I have heard about the Azov Battalion and it’s ties to Nazi-ism. I will pay more attention from now on. Thank you for this article. btw: I understand that Ukraine’s
President is Jewish. I didn’t know that until DemocracyNow pointed it out.
Well when Russia is on your doorstep, ready to invade, you can’t blame a Neo-nazi group for offering and teaching a VERY desperate group of people.
8 years of war. Love that this is what you focus on this and not the Russians, using Belarus or Chechen brothers. What a Russian cocksucker.
You manage to get everything wrong. It’s NATO that’s on the doorstep of Russia. And, yes, one should always condemn neo-Nazis. Dummy.
Dear F. U. “when Russia is on your doorstep”. So, Russia is actually threatening US existence? That is the same claim that Obama made about Venezuela: it is “an existential threat to the US”. And it remains the same nonsense. It is sad that so much imbibement of government/media Kool-Aid can scare the panties off so many.
Russia’s economy is smaller than California’s and Italy’s. Russia is not a threat. But treating it as threat is good for the arm’s industry’s business.
8 yrs of war because of the coo by American government to remove their elected government and put in place the neo Nazi regime they have now. If only a country entered Germany while hitlers party rose to power. Learn you history of that region. Let 2 neighbours settle their own dispute. Had the west not medaled in Ukrainian/Russian affairs back in 2013/2014 that area wouldn’t be in this mess. Ow you want to medal in it some more will only make the situation worst. The war in Ukrainian is the fault of the west. Wake up and stop being a sheep. Better yet wake up and stop being a neo Nazi apologist
Go watch Jimmy Dore talk about Ukrainian. As someone whom was smart enough to leave Ukrainian in late 2018 to escape what was so easily foretold, jimmy nails it perfectly. War is never the answer but it’s the USA and their nato allies that started this war back in 2014. Wake up children.
Hm. “As recent coverage demonstrates, one way of resolving this issue is by not mentioning the inconvenient matter of Ukrainian neo-Nazis altogether.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/europe/militias-russia-ukraine.html
FAIR is great! ,,,, a much-needed reply to the mountains of un-critical coverage of the Ukraine situation!
Good article on this violent Ukrainian faction that we rarely hear about in the MSM.
Azov batallion abandoned their far right politics and the original leaders left in 2014. This is documented in Wikipedia. Please do your homework before you start calling people nazis.
And you believe Wikipedia information? haha what a dumb mf
Tell me Mr puppet. Since 2014 where in this article does it cite anything hateful besides a grandma learning to shoot by someone with a symbol? In the meantime this batallion fights in the eastern part of Ukraine.
“On December 16, 2021, only the US and Ukraine voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the “glorification of Nazism,” while the United Kingdom and Canada abstained. There can be little doubt that this decision was made with the conflict in Ukraine in mind.”
Except that the U.S. has always voted against this resolution, which comes up every year. It has been rejected because it clashes with the American concept of freedom of speech. This is not FAIR coverage. It lacks important context and really makes it seems like a decision made because of Ukraine, instead of a long-standing decision, agree or disagree with said decision.
Follow the money: who’s been funding the Azaov battallion?
We are awash with all kinds of racist anti russian propaganda and a sensible assessment is very difficult to find . Thanks .
Time to demand Ukraine to Surrender now and stop the killing of it’s people. Ukraine can’t win against a superpower. Ukraine has always belonged to Russia ever since Vikings settled in the Russian Plains. Their language is the same as Russian and the difference between them is like Mexican Spanish and Castilian Spanish. Many times we cannot understand what Mexicans are saying for 30 or 40 minutes cause of it sounds like some Indian giberish.