RT
Washington’s decision to greenlight the use of US-supplied weapons by Kiev’s notorious Azov Brigade is a desperate move that only reinforces Russia’s claim that it is fighting neo-Nazism in Ukraine, Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the US Department of Defense, has told RT.
On Monday, the US State Department scrapped a ban on deliveries of arms to the Azov Brigade, which had been imposed by Congress in 2018 over the unit’s ties to neo-Nazism. According to the agency, a recent review has found “no evidence” of the military formation being in violation of the Leahy Law, which prohibits Washington from aiding foreign security force units that violate human rights with impunity.
“Clearly, the Azov group didn’t go from sinners to saints overnight,” Maloof said in an interview on Tuesday. “There still is a list of atrocities that they had committed, human rights abuses… you still see them marching around as a group with their symbols, with their camaraderie and their discipline in support of fascism.”
This change of stance on the Azov Brigade by Washington means “you no longer can really believe anything the State Department says, let alone the intelligence community,” he stressed
According to the former Pentagon official, the US move is “a sign of desperation” and a belated attempt to “bolster morale” among Ukrainians amid Russian gains on the front line this year.
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