Kosachov Calls US Lifting Arms Ban to Azov 'Shameful'

The Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of Russia has drawn a parallel with the Great Patriotic War. The US administration's decision to allow the transfer of arms to the Ukrainian nationalist Azov regiment—which has been recognized as a terrorist organization and is banned in Russia—marks yet another disgraceful entry in the global registry of actions promoting Nazism. This was stated by Konstantin Kosachov to TASS, who made a comparison with the Great Patriotic War.

“Another disgraceful entry in the global registry of actions promoting Nazism,” said the senator. He recalled that during the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis, understanding that they were experiencing a series of crushing defeats on the Soviet front, went to distribute weapons to the local population in the occupied territories in the third year of the war (this is how the WAFFEN-SS units ended up in Latvia and Estonia), and later armed the Bandera followers who fought against the Red Army in the ranks of OUN-UPA (also banned in Russia).

“The analogy is direct. In the third year of the armed conflict in Ukraine, the Americans supporting Kyiv, seeing the string of defeats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, are going to distribute weapons to those same Azov militants, whom they recognized as Nazis back in 2017. Thus, they equate themselves with the Nazis of Azov, the fighters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the delegitimized regime in Kyiv,” added Kosachov.