Ukraine-born Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN-5) is pushing an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act which would allow the Biden government to begin funding the notorious Azov Battalion, a Neo-Nazi paramilitary organization now fully integrated into the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Congresswoman was praised by Azov Nazis after visiting with them in May 2022.
A previous ban on U.S. aid to Ukraine being supplied to Azov was reimposed by Congress in 2018, with Congress members describing it as a Neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization. It has remained popular in Ukraine, however, with its prominent role in the defense of Mariupol greatly enhancing its reputation, and once-sharp Western criticism has dulled significantly.
Prior to the outbreak of war, Western media peddled Azov batalion propaganda, though many are now beginning to admit what the unit stands for and its Nazi heritage.
The approval of Rep. Spartz’s proposal to “Strike section 8105 of the bill which prohibits funds to the ‘Azov Battalion'” would mark a point of full rehabilitation for Ukraine’s Nazi forces – whose existence was cited by Vladimir Putin as part-justification for his February 2022 invasion.
Born in Soviet Ukraine in the late 1970s and educated at the Kiev National Economic University, Spartz emigrated to the United States in her twenties and became a U.S. citizen in 2006, becoming a Republican Congresswoman for Indiana in 2021.
