With growing evidence that the Canadian military has trained members of the Ukrainian military who are also reported to be part of extremist groups, experts say Ottawa needs to step up investigations and vetting of soldiers it trains and armies in the country that is fighting.
The Ministry of National Defense has promised an in-depth review of Canada’s mission in Ukraine after CTVNews.ca approached them for comment in October 2021 on a report by George Washington University that extremists in the Ukrainian military boast of being trained by Canadians as part of Operation UNIFIER.
The group in question, which calls itself the Centuria Military Order or simply Centuria, has ties to the far-right Azov movement.
The Canadian military said it was concerned about the report and denied knowing that extremists had participated in the training, adding that it had no mandate to check on soldiers training from other countries.
In the following month, an investigation by Ottawa Citizen found that not only Canadian officials met and were informed by Azov Battalion leaders in 2018, but also did not condemn the unit’s neo-Nazi beliefs – although they were warned about the views one of their colleagues – and their main concern was for the media to reveal that the meeting had taken place. Officers and diplomats allowed themselves to be photographed with battalion employees, which was then used online by Azov as propaganda.
The federal government, which has spent more than $ 890 million to train Ukrainian forces through Operation UNIFIER, has repeatedly stressed that it has not and will never train Azov-linked troops.
However, a recent Radio Canada investigation into documents related to the Canadian mission in Ukraine found evidence that Azov Regiment soldiers identified by patches on their clothing and other insignia had participated in training with the Canadian Armed Forces ( CAF) until 2020 in the Western-backed Zolochev Training Center in western Ukraine.
In a series of reports to CTVNews.ca, a spokesman for the Azov Regiment, which is currently fighting in Mariupol, Ukraine, said they had been excluded as a training group with Canadian instructors at the Op. UNIFIER, but that they “wrote a program” for their own courses and “were instructors in all disciplines in the training center of the National Guard of Ukraine,” confirming previous reports on Radio Canada.
The speaker did not answer questions related to individual members of the Azov Regiment who receive training through Op. UNIFIER.
However, CTVNews.ca managed to find evidence in the social media account of Azov Regiment Commander Kirilo Berkal, nicknamed “Kirt”, for members training with Canadian instructors, where they refer to “cooperation” with Op. UNIFIER in 2019. Berkal’s social media presents Nazi symbols and other extremist views.
CTVNews.ca asked the government if it would reassess its special relationship with Ukraine, its training mandates for Op. UNIFIER or review the deadly aid sent to Ukraine in the light of recent reports. A spokesman for the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CAF) said in a statement sent to CTVNews.ca earlier this month that “all members of Operation UNIFIER have been informed to help them identify patches and signs related to right-wing extremism. “
The statement said that if Canadian soldiers “suspected” their Ukrainian peers or colleagues who had racist views or belonged to right-wing extremist elements, they would be “removed immediately”.
However, the statement reiterated that when it comes to checking foreign soldiers; “There is no burden of proof on the CAF to demonstrate this beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The CAF said it was taking “all reasonable steps” to ensure there was no training for extremists, but said in a statement that “Ukraine is a sovereign country” responsible for recruiting and testing its own security forces.
Responding to fears that extremist elements in the Ukrainian army now have access to much more deadly firepower as countries such as Canada arm Ukraine after the Russian invasion, the CAF said donations of military aid were provided “exclusively” to the Defense Ministry. Ukraine and that these donations are “controlled by end-user certificates issued by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine”.
Christian Leprecht, a security analyst and professor at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University, said “Canadians can’t choose who to do and who they don’t train” on advice and assistance missions like Ukraine’s.
“Every time you have a nationalist conflict, you will have extremists. “You will have people who hold extremist views involved in the battle,” Leuprecht said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca. “So this is not very important for Ukraine, and I think the problem that Canadians have is that the mission does not have the luxury of choosing.” either you’re on a mission or you’re not. “
Leuprecht said Canada’s military resources were too stretched to establish a verification mechanism in Ukraine and that the government had to assess the risks of conducting a training mission.
“With regard to the great compromise, it is never acceptable to have extremists among us,” he said. “At the same time, when you train hundreds or thousands of people for six and a half years in an Eastern European country, you inevitably get people who are xenophobic or extremist.
However, Leprecht said when the military resumed Op. UNIFIER, there must be serious talks on how to deal with the Azov movement and other far-right battalions, which after the war were lionized as defenders of Ukraine, inflating their ranks.
“Obviously we have learned some hard lessons here that make us feel uncomfortable as Canadians… if or when we re-engage with Ukraine on a mission and advice, how will it not enable this battalion in particular or the people who are related to him, “he said.” In the future, it will be an important question about the heroic status that the battalion will take on.
A photo posted on the social media account of Azov Regiment member Kirilo Berkal appears to show Canadian instructors involved in their training.
A photo presented on the social media account of Azov Regiment member Kirilo Berkal seems to show Canadian instructors participating in their training (Facebook)
WHAT IS THE AZOV MOVEMENT FOR?
The Azov movement was founded in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and was largely a paramilitary unit of radical nationalists that – including its founder and leader Andrei Biletsky – openly supported anti-Semitic and other far-right ideologies. The movement attacks anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings, the media, art exhibitions, foreign students, the LGBTQ2S + community and the Roma.
A 2016 report released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights describes allegations against the Azov police, known as the Azov Battalion, of torture and other war crimes in the ensuing 2014 conflict. – later captured the Azov Battalion in its ranks – where he is now better known as the Azov Regiment.
Recent efforts to distance the current iteration of the Azov Regiment from politicians and academics from its infamous roots and current ties to the far right “run counter to important facts,” according to investigative journalist and original Centuria report author Alexei Kuzmenko in a series of emails sent to CTVNews.ca.
“The Azov Regiment is obviously a highly combat-ready unit of the National Guard of Ukraine. “In my opinion, this is a highly professionalized wing of the Azov movement, included in the National Guard of Ukraine, but it is not depoliticized, nor is it just an ordinary unit, as some claim,” he said.
Kuzmenko said the unit proudly bears recognizable symbols of the far right of its insignia and remains closely linked to the larger, internationally active far-right Azov movement and its political wing, the National Corps. He also said he did not know the Ukrainian army to investigate extremism in its ranks.
The National Corps is openly hostile to liberal democracy, the universal right to vote [and] minority rights, “Kuzmenko said. “The party is not explicitly neo-Nazi, but the Azov movement includes explicitly neo-Nazi elements. To be clear, the National Corps party has almost little electoral support, but at the same time has long enjoyed impunity for violence. “
Kuzmenko said those who insist on “liberating” the regiment from its far-right legacy and connections seem to want society to believe that its obvious ties to the Azov movement, the use of far-right, white nationalist symbols, and so on. it means nothing, he said. “If you buy it, I have a bridge to sell you.
However, Kuzmenko said it was important to note that many Ukrainians who do not support far-right ideology have joined units bearing variations in the Azov name since Russia invaded to defend their country – but the National Corps party strives to educate newcomers in its ideology.
“I believe the current allegations … that [Azov] “The regiment is not very right-wing – they aim to make support for these fighters more acceptable to the West,” Kuzmenko said. “And to bury the fact that the Ukrainian government has long embraced a far-right military unit as part of the National Guard of Ukraine.
However, Kuzmenko said he did not think there was a reason “why it is difficult to openly admit that these forces … [are] very far right and that they (the Azov movement) are also fighting bravely against Russia …
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