Posted on 05/04/2022 5:53:45 PM PDT by delta7
A little-noticed provision in the 2,232-page government spending bill passed last week bans U.S. arms from going to a controversial ultranationalist militia in Ukraine that has openly accepted neo-Nazis into its ranks.
House-passed spending bills for the past three years have included a ban on U.S. aid to Ukraine from going to the Azov Battalion, but the provision was stripped out before final passage each year.
{mosads}This year, though, the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill signed into law last week stipulates that “none of the funds made available by this act may be used to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.”
“White supremacy and neo-Nazism are unacceptable and have no place in our world,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), an outspoken critic of providing lethal aid to Ukraine, said in a statement to The Hill on Tuesday. “I am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the U.S. from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighting in Ukraine.”
The United States has been aiding and training Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russian-backed separatists since 2014, and recently expanded that aid to include arms. The omnibus includes about $620.7 million in aid for Ukraine, including $420.7 million in State Department and foreign operations funds and $200 million in Pentagon funds.
The Azov Battalion was founded in 2014, and its first commander was Andriy Biletsky, who previously headed the neo-Nazi group Patriot of Ukraine. Several members of the militia, which has been integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard, are self-avowed neo-Nazis.
But a spokesman for the group has defended it, telling USA Today in 2015 that only 10 to 20 percent of recruits are neo-Nazis and that those people do not represent the official ideology of Azov. It’s unclear how much, if anything, from the United States has gone to Azov in the past.
“The State Department should pressure Kiev to dissociate itself with this group and investigate whether any of our weapons or training have already been provided to them,” Khanna said in his statement. “This is just one of many reasons why lawmakers should be concerned about channeling huge amounts of weapons into this volatile conflict zone.”
Last year, online posts by the militia’s news service showed members testing U.S.-made grenade launchers at a firing range. The posts have since been deleted, and the Ukrainian National Guard insisted in a January statement that the grenade launchers were not in Azov’s possession. U.S. officials have said vetting required under the so-called Leahy Law already prevents the United States from aiding Azov. The Leahy Law bans U.S. aid from going to groups when the “secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.” But proponents of a ban specific to Azov say the Leahy Law did not preclude it from getting aid, since the secretary of State has never made such a determination about the group.
Read, and then re-read until it sinks in.
This is so stupid.
L
Okay?
While we’re at it, no more money for black supremacists and neo-Bolsheviks, either.
Okay?
It is actually hilarious.
Congress needs to be banned on Facebook and Twitter for peddling Russian propaganda!
;-)
Oh, you posted it again!
A four years old article describing the doings of a far-left California Moron Ro Khanna! (Democrat of course).
Good for you!
Post the next one too. The one from Forward where a childish Canadian ‘person’ says that he just organized a 50 person “trans-parade” and got punched in a face by some guy and that means Ukraine is naZZZZi.
You people always have the same propaganda and the same fakes!
Do it!
Where’s the disinformation czar? 😂🥳🙃😄
So, how do the geniuses prevent Zelensky from giving them guns?
The Senate will clean out this and a few other Russian amendments from the bill, reconcile it, and then send it to the White Hut.
Agreed. Wartime is not the time to nitpick. I have reached the opinion that the Azov battalion appears to be a very effective and hard fighting battalian. Give them the weapons to fight and let them fight.
Who cares if 20% of their members are neo-nazis? There A whole country of 40 million people at stake here as well as the balance of power in Europe.
Besides, if you don't like neo-nazi's, don't you want them at the front?
But, but, the Nazis there are the GOOD GUYS now, since they shell Russian civilians for sport in the Donbass.
Time to get with the program, pal.
I don’t claim to be a genius, but I want MORE GUNS for these guys. I also question your motives!
Suddenly a liberal b***tch from California is calling someone Nazi and you take it as gospel right away.
They’re not Nazis. They’re good at killing Russians and that makes these evil orcs mad!
MORE GUNS!
Check the date on the original article—it is several years old.
The point is that Congress used language back then that is now banned on Facebook and Twitter.
It shows how fast the official narrative can change.
That should also be a clue that maybe the official narrative is full of &^%$—on everything.
I know what was behind this stupid bill in 2018. It was representative Ro Khanna from California. He is a god damn moron not officially a member but going with the Democratic Socialists of America.
His district is such that a glass of water with a (D) next to his name will get elected. Hope he gets primaried!
No more welfare money for black supremacists!
That’s the reason Russia hates them and tries to hurt their image.
They are well trained and highly effective.
They have fought courageously in Mariopul.
And, some here, swallow the Russian propaganda of “nazis, killing their own people, using human shields”.
Knowing that they are not going to enforce it ... the Nazis are their lead units ... more than a third of their Army would be excluded. Ukraine is a Nazi thugocracy.
Utterly unenforceable by us, and likely even utterly unenforceable by the Ukrainians. They’re in a war, do you think they are really going to track where the weapons go once they arrive. Nope they’ll ship them to the front line as fast as possible.
Ukrainian NAZIs is Russian propaganda.
Ukrainian NAZIs is Russian propaganda.
Ukrainian NAZIs is Russian propaganda.
Wait. Ukrainian NAZIs are real?
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