Esprit de corps: Azov Brotherhood
Thus, an ordinary Azov fighter serves not for money but for the sake of glory, in the name of freedom and the honor of his unit. Sometimes within the framework of sports competition, but how could one go without it in male societies?
“Azov and the army — these are completely different things, a different attitude of the command to the soldiers,” — remembers Elektron.
Unit as a Family
A unit recruit must demonstrate not only compliance with the level of physical fitness and moral-psychological stability but, during boot camp, become part of the brotherhood. In the unit, everyone calls each other “brother”, not just “comrade in service”, but practically “brother in arms” who stands shoulder to shoulder, on whom you can always blindly rely. Azov, thanks to its successful work with personnel, primarily develops internal solidarity, fosters personal, civic responsibility for the success of a common cause, but it also develops family feelings for its brothers in arms.
“This is war. Here, everyone’s either for themselves, or one family”, Azov fighter with the call sign “Tork”, commented on the decision to go into captivity from Azovstal.
May 2019
On the fifth anniversary of the founding of “Azov” on May 5, 2019, Andriy Biletsky emphasized his status as the “first commander”, pointing out the existence of the “Azov family” — that is, the consolidation of veterans of the military unit who consider “Azov” their Alma Mater, and themselves as a kind of its alumni. “I am proud of being part of this already legendary formation”, he noted on his page.
Azov and Political Parties
With the withdrawal of “Azov” from the front lines and attempts to implement peaceful agreements in 2015, internal doubts arose among the personnel. For many, Russian aggression began immediately after active participation in the events of Euromaidan, and this was practically the first long pause, an opportunity to rethink their own role and contribution to the events of 2013-2015. At that time, a certain part of the fighters who were not ready to dedicate themselves to military service and a career left the ranks of the regiment. This was the first wave of layoffs from the military unit. Some of these former fighters joined political initiatives, including the “Azov Civil Corps”, the former commander of the unit, Andriy Biletsky, at that time a member of the Ukrainian Parliament. At the same time, there was an external impression that the political initiatives of former Azov fighters were the “political wing of the Azov regiment”.
At that time, journalists coined a new cliché — the “Azov Movement,” which was actively picked up by both critics and… the veterans of “Azov” themselves. Symbols have their meaning. Negative media coverage often works as advertising. What better advertising to the pro-Ukrainian audience than a connection with one of the most successful volunteer military units?
At the same time, can it be considered that all Azov veterans joined the political initiatives of Andriy Biletsky? Definitely not. Here are a few illustrative examples:
- Former deputy commander of the volunteer unit Igor Mosiychuk ran for and entered the Verkhovna Rada from the “Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko” in the fall of 2014. With him went the head of the battalion’s press service, Anna Senik.
- Fighter of the Azov battalion, Tetiana Chornovol, became a member of the parliamentary faction of the political party “People’s Front” in the fall of 2014. Her husband, Mykola Berezovyi, died in battle near Ilovaisk from a sniper’s bullet, saving his comrade on August 10, 2014.
- Azov battalion fighter Ihor Lutsenko became a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the “Fatherland” party in the fall of 2014.
- Azov battalion fighter Oleg Petrenko became a member of the Ukrainian Parliament in the fall of 2014 and was part of the “Block of Petro Poroshenko” faction.
- Serhiy Filimonov, an actor known for his role in Oleg Sentsov’s film “Rhino” (2021), and now a fighter of the “Vovky Da Vinci” battalion, together with several Azov veterans, founded their own organization called “Honour”.
- Former deputy commander of the Azov regiment Vadym Troyan, after dismissal, decided to build a career in the police, becoming the deputy minister of internal affairs of Ukraine (2017-2019).
Let’s clarify here. The Special Forces Brigade “Azov” remains a professional military unit, and its military personnel are prohibited by law from having political affiliation. Therefore, the popular claim about the “closeness” of the military unit to the political party “National Corps” is more understandable but still a regrettable logical error. Head of the National Minority Rights Monitoring Group, Viacheslav Likhachov, later emphasized that Andriy Biletsky used the “Azov” brand for his own political PR and considered his involvement in creating a military unit not the most pride-worthy achievement.
Active military personnel cannot make political statements, but former servicemen of “Azov” can join any political associations. Due to strong internal work with personnel and, consequently, a high level of motivation, it’s evident that for many, the war did not end with the completion of military service. In Ukraine, the Ministry for Veterans Affairs was created to address the social problems of demobilized soldiers, but systematic and mandatory work on the social adaptation of veterans has not been implemented. Therefore, it is natural that the closest circle for demobilized and discharged soldiers from the army was their comrades from the unit.
No military serviceman can be a party member. However, nothing prevents them from having their own political beliefs and exercising their civil proposition through the constitutional right to be elected. In a society where the military enjoys the highest level of trust, it is possible for them to be listened to and chosen as representatives in parliament. Similarly, no former serviceman can be forced to support any specific party.
Background: Nationalists and the right-wing have been part of the Ukrainian political landscape since the restoration of independence. Their biggest electoral success was in 2012 when the party “Svoboda” achieved 10.45% and 37 seats in the Verkhovna Rada, an old political force with a nationalist agenda. Their presence in parliament is usually explained by the exacerbation of pro-Russian tendencies in the political leadership and the obvious rapprochement with the Russian Federation, against which nationalists appeared as an alternative. No one managed to repeat such electoral success after that. In the extraordinary elections in 2014, “Svoboda” received 4.71%, and the “Right Sector” — 1.80% of the votes. In the 2019 elections to the Verkhovna Rada, only one deputy from “Svoboda” in a single-mandate district in Ivano-Frankivsk, Oksana Savchuk, made it to the parliament. Meanwhile, the united forces of nationalists, including “Svoboda,” “National Corps,” “Right Sector,” “Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists,” NGO “Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists,” “DIYA,” and UDA together garnered only 2.15% and failed to overcome the 5% barrier for entry into the Parliament.
Military Units of Azov Veterans
After the start of the full-scale invasion, many Azov veterans decided not to join their comrades in Mariupol due to the rapid deployment of the Russian advance, especially towards the capital of Ukraine. Instead, they self-organized locally and created a series of their own military units:
- Third Separate Assault Brigade (3 OShBr), formerly known as the Azov-Kyiv Special Operations Forces (SSO)
- SSO Azov-Kharkiv
- Special Unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense “Kraken”
- SSO “Lyubart” (joined the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov)
- 98 Territorial Defense Battalion “AZOV-Dnipro” (merged into 3 OShBr)
- TERRA (merged into 3 OShBr)
Units founded by Azov veterans are considered highly effective and are involved in all key military operations. In particular, the head of the GUR MO Kirilo Budanov calls “Kraken” “one of the most combat-ready units”. The Third Assault Brigade defended one of the hottest spots on the front lines in Bakhmut, and its combat merits were repeatedly recognized by the higher military leadership.
In the rhetoric of the public and journalists, being an “Azov member” has long been an epithet and synonym for praise for strength of spirit and courage, rather than just an indication of belonging to a specific military unit.