![]() ![]() The regiment's size was estimated to be around 900 to 2,500 combatants in 2017–2022. Since 2014, criticism of the Azov Regiment has been a recurring theme of Russian propaganda, and the unit has been designated a terrorist group by Russia since August 2022. Others argue that the regiment has evolved beyond its origins as street militia, tempering its neo-Nazi and far-right underpinnings as it became part of the National Guard. Some experts have been critical of the regiment's role within the larger Azov Movement, a political umbrella group made up of veterans and organizations linked to Azov, and its possible far-right political ambitions, despite claims of the regiment's depoliticization. The unit has drawn controversy over its early and allegedly continuing association with far-right groups and neo-Nazi ideology, its use of controversial symbols linked to Nazism, and early allegations that members of the unit participated in torture and war crimes. In February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Azov was to be expanded as a brigade of the new Offensive Guard. It was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014, and redesignated Special Operations Detachment "Azov" ( Ukrainian: Окремий загін спеціального призначення «Азов», romanized: Okremyi zahin spetsialnoho pryznachennia "Azov"), also known as the Azov Regiment ( Ukrainian: Полк «Азов», romanized: Polk "Azov"). It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion ( Ukrainian: батальйон «Азов», romanized: Batalion "Azov"), a volunteer paramilitary militia under the command of Andriy Biletsky to fight pro-Russian forces in the war in Donbas. The Azov Assault Brigade ( Ukrainian: Штурмова бригада «Азов», romanized: Shturmova bryhada "Azov") is a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol, in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov, from which it derives its name. ![]()
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