Canada's Denial that It Trained Neo-Nazis
Members of the Azov Battalion
pose with NATO flag in photo posted on twitter.
Evidence shows that through Operation UNIFIER Canada provided training for the Banderite Nazi battalions that are part of Ukraine's military -- a fact the Prime Minister and his government deny and which other cartel parties with seats in the Parliament do not address.
On May 2, 2022, the Prime Minister, while at an event in Windsor promoting the auto sector, responded to a reporter who asked him about remarks made the day before by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with Italian media. Lavrov had pointed out that the U.S. and Canada "have played a leading role in the training of openly neo-Nazi ultra-radical divisions in Ukraine. The goal has been all these years to get neo-Nazis to join the regular military forces of Ukraine."
Trudeau did not issue a denial. In his usual style, he
circumvented the question by trying to discredit Russia instead,
saying that all those who oppose "the horrors of the Holocaust
and the extremely worrying rise in hate crimes" must "condemn
ever more strongly the ridiculous and unacceptable positions of
Russia." Accusing Russia of being a Holocaust denier is par for
the course -- one of the clumsy and crude ways the U.S. and NATO
countries are spreading russophobia and inciting passions to
divert attention from what is taking place in Ukraine.
In a May 4 statement emailed to CTV, the Department of National
Defence (DND) noted that it recently absolved itself of any
allegations that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have trained
Ukrainian neo-Nazis.
"Regarding your questions about our review of the George Washington University report findings, the review was started in the Fall of 2021 and is now complete. The review examined whether the CAF had exercised their due diligence in preventing members of right-wing extremist organizations from receiving training as part of Operation UNIFIER," the statement said. "The report is still under review by the CAF chain of command, but it concludes that there was no factual basis found of neo-Nazi links for the group trained by Task-Force Ukraine."
The statement goes on to claim that the CAF takes "every reasonable measure" to ensure no training is provided to members of extremist elements, and that the report contains classified and sensitive information, and they are analyzing which parts will be released to the public.
The statement specifically claims that "Canada does not train members of Azov Battalion -- this has never been part of our mandate ... what has always been clear is that have not -- nor will we -- be providing training support to Azov and affiliated entities."
CTV noted that claims in the DND statement are directly refuted by first-hand testimony from an Azov Regiment officer interviewed by CTV, "in which he states that while the group was not allowed to take part with Canada's mission in Ukraine known as Operation UNIFIER officially, Canadian instructors 'became friends' with Azov members and instructors, speaking and dealing with them as 'professionals to professionals.'"
A photo
featured on the social media account of Azov regiment member
Kyrylo Berkal shows Canadian instructors involved with their
training.
Prior to this, on April 11, Radio Canada reported that Canadian military personnel trained both members of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion as well as at least one Ukrainian soldier who sported the crest of a Nazi SS unit from World War II. The training took place in November 2020, Radio Canada said.
Canadians training the neo-Nazi
Azov Battalion, November 3, 2020. Right: soldier in foreground
sports neo-Nazi insignia.
In an April 13 interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel said, "There is no question that there are neo-Nazis in different forms in Ukraine, whether they are in the Azov regiment or other organizations." Regarding claims such as those made by Prime Minister Trudeau that allegations made against the Azov regiment are part of a Russian disinformation campaign, Zuroff stated, "It's not Russian propaganda, far from it. These people are neo-Nazis. There is an element of the ultra-right in Ukraine and it's absurd to ignore it."
The Citizen further reported, "Defence sources acknowledged the crest worn by the Ukrainian soldier in Canadian military photos [in the November 2020 training] is the insignia of Ukraine's SS unit which fought for the Nazis. The other photos show Ukrainian troops with insignia linked to the Azov unit."
The Citizen notes that in June 2018, Canadian officials, including military personnel, met with leaders of the Azov unit, despite knowing about its espousal of Nazi ideology. National Defence documents show that their concern was not the interactions with the Azov unit and neo-Nazis, who were clearly part of what Canada officially calls freedom fighters. The concern was that news media would expose details of the meeting when Canadians allowed themselves to be with unit members, which the Azov Battalion then used for propaganda purposes.
Meeting
between Canadian officials and the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion,
June 18, 2020.
On April 29, the Investigative Committee of Russia issued a statement that it is investigating the activities of Canadian military instructors who trained Ukrainian neo-Nazis. "The Investigative Committee's investigators, who are looking into this fact as part of criminal cases related to the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists, will employ measures to identify those engaged in military training programs teaching ways to commit crimes against civilians," the statement reads.
Photo
posted to the Canadian Armed Forces in Ukraine Facebook page
shows then Commanding Officer of Canada's Operation UNIFIER
Lieutenant-Colonel Ryan Stimpson speaking at the 2020
graduation ceremony for Ukraine's National Army Academy at the
International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Yavoriv.
There is evidence those belonging to an organization called
"Centuria" with ties to the Azov Battalion operate inside the
Academy.
Alongside
Canadian soldiers, Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine Roman
Waschuk speaks at an August 21, 2019 ceremony that unveiled a
monument in Sambir to honour members of the Organization of
Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army which
collaborated with the Nazis.
The Azov Battalion and several others like it that espouse
neo-Nazi ideology were founded in 2014 and funded by various
oligarchs. They stand accused of human rights violations and war
crimes by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights and Amnesty International for their activities against
the people of the Donbass region.
The presence of neo-Nazis in the ranks of the Ukrainian military
is so pervasive that even the President of Ukraine, who NATO
governments and media assure us cannot be a Nazi because he is a
Jew, in an act ostensibly intended to mark the victory over Nazi
fascism on Victory Day, May 9, shared a photo on Instagram and
Telegram of a Ukrainian soldier wearing the "death's head" (totenkopf).
The "death's head" is the insignia of the 3rd SS Panzer
Division, a unit of elite Nazi soldiers infamous for committing
numerous war crimes and massacres of French civilians and Polish
Jews. The aim was, presumably, to hail the Ukrainian resistance
against what he calls Russian aggression which is compared to
Nazi aggression during World War II. While the picture was soon
deleted from his social media, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence
also posted the photo.
In today's violent climate fostered by neo-liberal
governments, the "death's head" logo is a known "hate symbol"
used by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.
Similarly, NATO on International Women's Day used Twitter to
highlight women in Ukraine's military but had to pull the tweet
after social media users pointed out that women pictured were
wearing Nazi-affiliated insignia, the Ottawa Citizen reported
on April 13.
Ukraine is said to be the only country in the world that has
integrated openly neo-Nazi militias into its national military.
While these militias were once described by monopoly media as
"neo-Nazi," this has now been sanitized by referring to them as
"far-right groups." Since Russian troops entered Ukraine in
February, stashes of Nazi paraphernalia have been found in the
houses and bases of these militia members, and social media
accounts run by the Ukrainian government have posted similar
images of soldiers wearing Nazi and far-right insignia.
On May 9, 2015, TML Weekly reported on a meeting
organized by extreme right-wing nationalists and Nazi
collaborators to commemorate the end of World War II by
gathering on May 7 to mark a newly established "Day of
Remembrance for World War II Victims" at the Center of National
Rebirth in Kiev. At the meeting, they gave the appeal for Kiev
to take up its "historic mission to continue the deed of our
predecessors" to destroy Moscow, freeing the Russian people and
enabling them to shape their own future. Those present at the
May 7 meeting were veterans of the 14th Waffen Grenadier
Division of the SS and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and
members of the neo-Nazi volunteer battalions fighting with
government troops against the people of Donestk and Lugansk.
The meeting was also attended by Yuri Sirotyuk, a member of the
fascist political party Svoboda. The party's official website
posted the text of his speech at the event. "We shall get rid of
the dead load of imperialism," Sirotyuk is reported to have
said.
"I believe that if we truly want it, we will do it. Another
question is that Ukraine, unfortunately, is still not a national
Ukrainian power. Some of the Ukrainian political leadership feel
indifference towards the Ukrainian nation. The Ukrainian
leadership feel indifference when Ukrainian officers are being
buried. But they feel sore when their stocks are falling and
when they think of their factories, located in Russia," he said.
According to the website, the meeting was part of the "Historic
Dialogues" project and the theme of the gathering was "The
Second World War and Russian-Ukrainian War of 2014-2015:
Parallels and Regularities."
These are all people that officials of the government of Canada
and Canadian military leaders have been dealing with.
(With files from Canadian Press, BBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, TML Weekly. Photos: Toten Kopf, Kyrylo Berkal)
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 1 - February 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS530111.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca