Russia’s Supreme Court Designates Ukrainian Militia as ‘Terrorists’

The Supreme Court of Russia has defined the far-right Azov Regiment, which is included in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as a “terrorist organization”.

The decision, announced Tuesday (2), responds to a request from the Public Ministry and allows for harsher penalties for group members.

Russia’s penal code provides for up to 10 years in prison for members of terrorist organizations and up to 20 years for their leaders.

The Azov Battalion was formed by far-right militants in the wake of separatist conflicts in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and would later unite as the National Guard Regiment.

The group, accused by the Kremlin of neo-Nazism, led the resistance against the Russian occupation in the city of Mariupol, in the Donetsk province on the Sea of ​​Azov, from which the regiment got its name.