Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has asked the country’s Supreme Court of Justice to recognize the Azov Battalion, integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard and classified as “Nazi” by the Kremlin, as a terrorist organization.
According to the local news agency “Interfax”, the Russian Ministry of Justice on Tuesday indicated that a hearing will be held on the 26th to discuss the case.
Declaring a terrorist organization means banning the activities of the military regiment in Russia.
The Azov Battalion, created in the port of Mariupol in 2014, has been fully integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine since the beginning of the same year.
The prosecutor’s request is combined with a draft resolution of the Russian Parliament proposing a veto on the exchange of “Nazi criminals”, a text to be considered by lawmakers tomorrow.
The document makes no mention of the Azov Battalion, considered by the Russian government to have been formed by ultra-nationalists and Nazis since the beginning of the Ukrainian war.
Some members of the regiment were at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. Yesterday, the Ministry of Defense announced the evacuation of 265 Ukrainian fighters, 51 of whom were wounded.
According to the file, they all surrendered their weapons and became “prisoners of war”.
source: Noticias
