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This is not to say that there are no far-right groups in Ukraine. The most infamous one is the Azov Battalion, a nationalist para-militia, which is a neo-Nazi unit of the Ukrainian National
Guard. Azov fighters are mostly based in Eastern Ukraine, in Mauriopol (Donetsk Oblast), and its first proper battle was fought against pro-Russian separatists during the recapture of
Mauriopol in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea. Their uniforms boast of Nazi symbols, and multiple interviews with Azov members have cleared the air about their Nazi sympathies and their
anti-Semitism. Additionally, some of the far-right white supremacist political parties in the country are the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, Right Sector, and Svoboda. Is there a
serious enough threat for Putin to justify his invasion, in the name of 'denazification?' The only political party to have a place in the current Ukrainian parliament is Svoboda,
and it won literally one seat. Andreas Umland, who works for the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies, told _Deutsche Welle_ that far-right groups in Ukraine are inconsequential in
politics and barely play a role in elections. "We had a united front of all radical right-wing parties in the last parliamentary elections in 2019 where they won 2.15% of the
vote," he added. Talking about the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, it became formally incorporated into Ukrainian National Guard in late 2014 after it emerged to be an important fighting unit
against pro-Russian separatists. These fighters, anticipating a Russian invasion, had been training Ukrainians in Mauriopol to defend the country. One such instance went viral on social
media – the 79-year-old grandmother seen learning how to shoot. The point is that the neo-Nazis that Putin claims to be saving Ukraine from, are actually fighting against Putin in this war.
Nevertheless, Ukraine's neo-Nazis have provided a ton of propaganda material to Putin in order to achieve his actual goal - the overthrow of the government in Kyiv.