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  • It seemed like an odd way to spend a Saturday.

  • Watching the blood sports atfestival for far-right extremists.

  • This was the summer of 2019, and I had gone  to Ukraine to learn more about these groups.

  • From the crowds, one thing  seemed pretty clear about them

  • They weren't bothered by the fact that this  event was organized by the Azov movement,

  • a far-right group that has increasingly  been linked to violence around the world.

  • The shooter is linked to a 74-page manifesto  filled with white supremacist rhetoric.

  • FBI agents say he expressed a desire  to travel to Ukraine to fight with a  

  • far-right paramilitary group.

  • At least one member  of an American hate group also trained in Ukraine,

  • with Azov Battalion.

  • According to the FBI domestic  terrorists killed 39 people in fiscal year 2019

  • making it the most deadly year for domestic  terrorism since the 1995 Oklahoma city bombing.

  • The threat of white nationalism has evolved since  Oklahoma city where a domestic terrorist used

  • a truck bomb to kill at least 168 people. Police  don't tend to see such terrorists as lone wolves  

  • acting in isolation anymore. It's become clear to  law enforcement that these attackers often have  

  • links to a global network, one with common goals  and a shared ideology.

  • We are looking very hard

  • at white supremacists or Neo-Nazis here connecting  through social media online with like-minded  

  • individuals overseas and in some cases actually  traveling overseas to train.

  • Over the last few years experts in violent extremism have grown  especially alarmed about the Azov movement  

  • The group emerged from the revolution that  swept across Ukraine in 2014 and it has  

  • gotten a lot stronger amid the ongoing war  with pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine  

  • The fighting in that region has become kind of  ideal breeding ground for militias like Azov.

  • At their public events one thing that surprised  me was how many Ukrainians tend to see Azov  

  • not as militants or extremists but as war heroesIn Kiev, the capital, I watched an independence day  

  • parade where veterans of the Azov Battalion  marched alongside other volunteer militias  

  • surrounded by cheering crowds who thanked  them for defending Ukraine against Russia.

  • But even at the march there were signs of the  far-right ideology that's so common inside Azov  

  • The symbols on their flags have been especially  controversial Azov says it combines the letters  

  • I and N for "idea of nation" but extremism experts  see it as an emblem of Nazism.

  • The official symbol of Azov it's a version of Wolfsangel. It was one of the  symbols of one of the SS divisions during

  • World War II.It is one of more or less usual symbols for  Neo-Nazi groups all over the world.

  • And it's not just about their symbols when it was founded  in 2014, Azov drew many of its commanders and  

  • recruits from Ukraine's most notorious far-right  groups, including outright Neo-Nazis.

  • We basically recruited everyone who could hold weapons in  their hand when Ukrainian state was paralyzed  

  • and the defense of Ukrainian state was totally in  the hand of Ukrainian volunteers. So there were many  

  • war adventurers guys who believed that they're are on kind of an ideological tour  

  • to save maybe the future of the west and so on and  so forth so--

  • The future of the white race?

  • Yes, yes.

  • Azov's paramilitary wing is now a major  fighting force with its own bases and  

  • training grounds near the front lines of the war  against pro-Russian forces. After the veterans'  

  • parade in Kiev I interviewed Andriy Biletsky  who founded the Azov movement in 2014.

  • Azov's leaders have also tried to break into  politics. They failed to win any seats in  

  • Parliament during the most recent elections in  2019, but their plans in Ukraine are ambitious.

  • What worries officials in the west is Azov's  recruitment strategy. It's tried hard to build  

  • friendships with far-right groups around the  world especially in the U.S. and Europe.

  • During my visit in 2019, I spent a day at one of the  biggest recruitment events in Azov's history.  

  • Thousands of people showed up for a day  of fighting sports and blatant propaganda

  • There were Neo-Nazi symbols tattoos  and posters all over the place,

  • and many in the crowd seem pretty  receptive to Azov's far-right ideology.

  • Events like this also tend to attract recruits  from abroad. One of the ones I met was named  

  • Robin, who just arrived in Ukraine from Swedenwhere he told me he's wanted for hate crimes.

  • This is so hard to explain the surroundings for  someone who's watching this you know, it's surreal.  

  • It's like, I don't know, it's like something you  read about, the great Germany before, you know, in  

  • the 1920s. It's a revival of the inter-european soul. And it's all happening here in Ukraine.

  • Afterward we rode back to the Azov base in northern Kievwhere Azov commanders had allowed Robin to stay  

  • as a potential recruit.

  • We are aryans and we will  rise again. That's a-- that's a way of

  • life, you know, and after the war in Germany  we went back to the benches, uh school benches,

  • but now he will rise again.

  • Are they Neo-Nazis  as an organization? No. Have they had Neo-Nazis

  • in their organization? I would say look at the U.S.  Army and you would find Neo-Nazis as well.

  • Dave is an American expat and U.S. Military veteran who  has volunteered to help Ukraine's national guard,

  • and he's met a lot of the recruits who'd come to  join Azov.

  • You only need one of these guys to kind

  • of go home and and uh commit an act of terrorism  to then really damage the reputation of Ukraine  

  • in the eyes of the world, right? So that, I mean, that's really a risk that Ukraine faces. Do you  

  • think they're taking it seriously enough?

  • Now? Yes.

  • A few weeks later, Robin, the Swede

  • I met at that festival wrote me that he was  going to the front lines to join the fight  

  • With recruits like this, it's little wonder  that u.s officials see Azov as a threat.

  • Experts point out that the pace of white supremacist  terrorism has intensified with new incidents  

  • frequently filling the headlines. 22 gunned down  at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Two killed near  

  • a synagogue in Halle, Germany. Nine more in  an attack on two shisha bars near Frankfurt,  

  • and a series of arrests exposing far-right  terror plots across the U.S. and Europe.

  • One tally reported an increase of 320 percent in such  attacks in western countries between 2014 and 2019

It seemed like an odd way to spend a Saturday.

Subtitles and vocabulary

B1 US ukraine neo white supremacist ukrainian robin war

Inside A White Supremacist Militia in Ukraine

  • 20 1
    joey joey posted on 2021/05/27
Video vocabulary

Keywords

tend

US /tɛnd/

UK /tend/

  • verb
  • To move or act in a certain manner
  • To take care of
  • To regularly behave in a certain way
common

US /ˈkɑmən/

UK /'kɒmən/

  • noun
  • Area in a city or town that is open to everyone
  • A piece of open land for public use.
  • A piece of open land for public use.
  • Field near a village owned by the local community
  • adjective
  • Lacking refinement; vulgar.
  • Occurring, found, or done often; prevalent.
  • (of a noun) denoting a class of objects or a concept as opposed to a particular individual.
  • Without special rank or position; ordinary.
  • Shared; Belonging to or used by everyone
  • Typical, normal; not unusual
  • Lacking refinement; vulgar.
  • Found all over the place.
express

US /ɪkˈsprɛs/

UK /ɪk'spres/

  • noun
  • A system for the rapid delivery of goods or messages.
  • A system for sending something quickly.
  • Fast train or bus
  • A train, bus, or other vehicle that travels rapidly with few or no stops.
  • adjective
  • Clearly and explicitly stated; not merely implied.
  • Traveling or able to travel at high speed.
  • Sent by a fast mail service
  • Moving or operating rapidly and directly.
  • Traveling at high speed
  • verb
  • To send something by fast mail
  • To state or show what you think or how you feel
  • other
  • To show (a feeling, thought, etc.) by words or actions.
  • To convey thoughts or feelings in words or by gestures and conduct.
  • To send (something) speedily to a destination.
parliament

US /ˈpɑrləmənt/

UK /ˈpɑ:ləmənt/

  • noun
  • A national representative body having supreme legislative powers.
  • Elected officials who govern a country (in the UK)
  • Period when the Uk government is in session
domestic

US /dəˈmɛstɪk/

UK /dəˈmestɪk/

  • noun
  • Someone paid to help with housework in your house
  • A person who is paid to help with cleaning and other jobs in someone's home
  • adjective
  • Tame and kept as a pet or on a farm
  • Existing or occurring inside a particular country; not foreign or international
  • British informal fight between husband and wife
  • Relating to the home, household, or family affairs
  • Concerning your own home or house
  • Relating to or made in your own country
  • Relating to one's own country
  • Relating to issues within a country
  • Made in one's own country
  • Concerning or made in your own country
state

US /stet/

UK /steɪt/

  • adjective
  • Concerning region within a country
  • noun
  • Region within a country, with its own government
  • Situation or condition something is in
  • verb
  • To say; declare as fact
parade

US /pəˈred/

UK /pə'reɪd/

  • noun
  • Large group walking in a public celebration
  • A place where troops assemble for parade or inspection.
  • A formal gathering of troops for inspection or display.
  • A public procession, especially one celebrating a special occasion.
  • A public procession, especially one celebrating a special occasion.
  • An ostentatious or showy display.
  • verb
  • To display something publicly
  • To display ostentatiously.
  • To march or proceed in a formal procession.
  • other
  • To march in a parade.
  • To march or proceed in a formal procession.
  • other
  • To display ostentatiously.
  • To display (someone or something) ostentatiously.
veteran

US /ˈvɛtərən/

UK /'vetərən/

  • adjective
  • Experienced through long service or practice
  • Having a lot of experience in a particular activity or field.
  • noun
  • Person experienced through long service
  • An old car, especially one made before 1919.
  • A person who has served in the military, especially during a war.
  • A member of a veterans' organization.
surreal

US /səˈriəl/

UK /səˈri:əl/

  • adjective
  • Concerning surrealism
  • Being strange, dreamlike or difficult to follow
  • Having the qualities of a dream; bizarre.
threat

US /θrɛt/

UK /θret/

  • noun
  • A statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone.
  • An indication of something undesirable that is likely to happen.
  • A person or thing likely to cause damage or danger.
  • Warning of probable trouble
  • A warning that you may be harmed

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