Canada failed when it trained Ukrainian troops linked to the far right, says Nazi hunter
The Canadian Forces says it had no obligation to be entirely certain of the backgrounds of those soldiers it trained in Ukraine.
• Ottawa CitizenPublishing date:Apr 13, 2022 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read
A top Nazi hunter and Holocaust scholar says Canada failed when it allowed Ukrainian military personnel connected to far-right groups to receive training as recently as 17 months ago.
But the Canadian Forces says it had no obligation to be entirely certain of the backgrounds of those soldiers it trained in Ukraine.
Radio Canada reported Monday that Canadian military personnel trained both members of the far-right Azov regiment as well as at least one Ukrainian soldier who sported the crest of a Nazi SS unit from the Second World War. The training took place in November 2020.
Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel said in an interview with this newspaper that Canada failed to properly monitor its own military training program. “The Canadian government didn’t do its due diligence,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of the Canadian defence ministry to know exactly who they are training.”
“There is no question that there are neo-Nazis in different forms in Ukraine, whether they are in the Azov regiment or other organizations,” he added.
Defence sources acknowledged the crest worn by the Ukrainian soldier in Canadian military photos 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.
Canadian Forces Capt. Véronique Sabourin said all Canadian military members training Ukrainian troops were given information to help them recognize patches and insignia associated with right-wing extremism. Ukraine is responsible for vetting its own personnel, she added.
If Canadian soldiers suspect their Ukrainian counterparts or trainees hold racist views or belong to right-wing organizations, then the trainees are removed, Sabourin explained. But she added: “There is no burden of proof on the CAF to demonstrate this beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Canadian military has denied training members of the Azov unit.The Azov unit, sometimes known as a battalion or a regiment, has been formerly incorporated into the Ukrainian military. But its connections to the far-right have long been recognized. In 2017, Canada’s Joint Task Force Ukraine produced a briefing on the Azov Battalion, acknowledging its links to Nazi ideology. “Multiple members of Azov have described themselves as Nazis,” the Canadian officers warned in their briefing.In 2018, the U.S. Congress banned the use of U.S. funds to provide arms, training and other assistance to the Azov Battalion because of its links to the far-right and neo-Nazis. The UN and Amnesty International have accused the unit of human rights violations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has justified his invasion of Ukraine by falsely claiming the country was led by Nazis. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish.But the Russian invasion and the sympathy it has generated for Ukraine in western nations has served as a catalyst for a wider acceptance of Azov.Some Jewish groups have watched with concern as journalists have lionized the unit or made excuses for its actions by pointing out there are only a few neo-Nazis in the organization. Japan’s Public Security Intelligence Agency reportedly removed Azov from its international terrorist list.Still, the far-right sympathies of some Ukrainian military units have proved to be a problem. NATO recently used Twitter to highlight women in Ukraine’s military but had to pull the tweet after social media users pointed out women pictured were wearing Nazi-affiliated insignia. Others have claimed allegations made against the Azov regiment are part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Zuroff dismisses such claims. “It’s not Russian propaganda, far from it,” he explained. “These people are neo-Nazis. There is an element of the ultra-right in Ukraine and it’s absurd to ignore it.”
In June 2018, Canadian officials, including military personnel, met with leaders of the Azov unit. But despite knowing about the neo-Nazi links, the officials didn’t denounce the unit. Instead, they were concerned the news media would expose details of the get-together, according to National Defence documents. The Canadians allowed themselves to be photographed with unit members, which Azov then used for its propaganda purposes. – ottawa citizen
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Far-right extremists in Ukraine brag they have received training from the Canadian Forces: report
The study from an institute at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., tracked social media accounts of the far-right group Centuria, documenting its Ukrainian military members giving Nazi salutes, promoting white nationalism and praising members of Nazi SS units.
• Ottawa CitizenPublishing date:Oct 04, 2021 • October 4, 2021 • 3 minute read
Far-right extremists in Ukraine’s military have bragged they received training from the Canadian Forces and other NATO nations, a new study from an American university has uncovered.
The study from an institute at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., tracked social media accounts of the far-right group Centuria, documenting its Ukrainian military members giving Nazi salutes, promoting white nationalism and praising members of Nazi SS units.
The far-right group has been active since 2018 at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy or NAA, according to the report from George Washington’s Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies.
The NAA is Ukraine’s premier military education institution and a major hub for western military assistance to the country, including from Canada.
Centuria members acknowledged on social media they have received training from the Canadian military and have participated in military exercises with Canada. In May, Centuria organizers boasted to their followers that its members currently served as officers in Ukraine’s military and “have succeeded in establishing cooperation with foreign colleagues from such countries as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA, German and Poland,” according to the institute’s report.
“The Ukrainian military’s failure to check Centuria activities suggests a level of tolerance on its part for the apparent proliferation of far-right ideology and influence within the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the study warned.
One member of the group has received officer training in the United Kingdom’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, graduating in late 2020. Another attended the German Army Officer’s Academy in Dresden in 2019.
In the summer of 2019, Centuria came out in support of a rally held by Ukrainian far-right groups to counter the LGBTQ “Kyiv Pride” event. Centuria released a statement that it supported “right patriots, nationalists, conservatives and Christians currently defending the streets of Kyiv from perverts from the LGBT movement and their left-liberal sympathizers.”
The NAA denied to the university researchers that Centuria operated within the academy and noted it had no tolerance for extremism. But the report has a number of photos of NAA cadets giving Nazi salutes and promoting far-right material. One of the NAA cadets was a firearms instructor for a far-right group that the United Jewish Community of Ukraine accused in 2021 of spreading anti-Semitic propaganda.
Canadian Forces spokeswoman Lt.-Cmdr. Julie McDonald said it was up to Ukraine to vet its own security forces. But, if Canadian military personnel saw first-hand evidence of extremist views, they could refuse to train those soldiers, she added. The Canadian Forces, however, does not proactively examine the backgrounds of those they train or look for signs of support for far-right causes.
“The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces are strongly opposed to the glorification of Nazism and all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance and extremism,” McDonald added.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence told university researchers that it did not screen those entering the military or military cadets for extremist views and ties. It stated concerns about Centuria were baseless and that such an organization was “fake.”
Bernie Farber, head of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said it was not good enough for the Canadian military to take a passive approach in regard to far-right extremism when it came to its training of foreign soldiers. “Clearly Canada has a responsibility when it comes to who it trains,” Farber said. “It’s not good enough just to leave it to the Ukrainians. The end result is the fact that Canadian troops may have trained Ukrainian Neo-Nazis.”
Concerns about such training have been circulating since 2015, when it was first decided to send Canadian troops to Ukraine. In April of that year, then-defence minister Jason Kenney acknowledged that Canadian military leaders discussed how to avoid training extremists. That was done initially by stipulating that only units of the Ukrainian National Guard and army be trained as opposed to some of the ad hoc militias that had sprung up in the country at the time.
But MP Jack Harris, then the NDP defence critic, warned that far-right groups were integrating themselves into the military, making it difficult to weed out extremists.
Centuria also has ties to the Azov movement. In 2018, the U.S. Congress banned the use of U.S. funds to provide arms, training and other assistance to the Azov Battalion because of its links to the far right and Neo Nazis.
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Sooo, Canada trains Nazis. Trudeau and Freeland must really hate Russians in order be voluntarily linked to Nazis. Nazis are OK with Justin, unless he believes they are truck drivers protesting peacefully in Ottawa. THEN he hates Nazis. Interesting.
Training and arming Nazis won’t ever become an issue further down the line, right? Think Taliban in Afghanistan. Think Osama bin Laden. Trained and armed by the US to fight USSR 1979-1989. After USSR left, you never heard a single peep from the Taliban or Bin Laden.
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