Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine war

This video from Sweden says about itself:

Neo-Nazi march in Stockholm and counter-demonstration

22 September 2013

Eight people were detained Saturday, as a march by the Neo-Nazi “Party of the Swedes” was confronted by co-demonstrators. Some 200 supporters took part in the march by the “Party of the Swedes”, which is the current name of the former National Socialist Front. The march started at Stockholm’s Humegården Park and then tried continue to Högtorget Square.

This nazi “Party of the Swedes” is the party of Mikael Skillt, now an officer on the side of the Kiev government in the bloody war in Ukraine.

As this blog blogged earlier, the Dutch nazis of the Nederlandse Volksunie have sympathy for, and contacts with, the Azov Battalion in the armed forces of the Ukrainian government in Kiev. A unit with as its symbol the wolfsangel, known from German and Dutch nazis during World War II.

The BBC wrote about this (para-)military unit:

16 July 2014, Last updated at 12:43 GMT

Ukraine conflict: ‘White power’ warrior from Sweden

By Dina Newman, BBC News

The appearance of far-right activists, both foreign and home-grown, among the Ukrainian volunteers fighting in east Ukraine is causing unease.

Mikael Skillt is a Swedish sniper, with seven years’ experience in the Swedish Army and the Swedish National Guard. He is currently fighting with the Azov Battalion, a pro-Ukrainian volunteer armed group in eastern Ukraine. …

In a telephone conversation from an undisclosed location, Mr Skillt told me more about his duties: “I have at least three purposes in the Azov Battalion: I am a commander of a small reconnaissance unit, I am also a sniper, and sometimes I work as a special coordinator for clearing houses and going into civilian areas.”

As to his political views, Mr Skillt prefers to call himself a nationalist, but in fact his views are typical of a neo-Nazi.

“It’s all about how you see it,” he says. “I would be an idiot if I said I did not want to see survival of white people. After World War Two, the victors wrote their history. They decided that it’s always a bad thing to say I am white and I am proud.”

Mr Skillt believes races should not mix. He says the Jews are not white and should not mix with white people. …

He says his comrades do not discuss politics much, though some of them may be “national socialists” and may wear swastikas. On the other hand, “there is even one liberal, though I don’t know how he got there”, he adds, with a smile in his voice. …

The key figures in the Azov Battalion are its commander, Andriy Biletsky, and his deputy, Ihor Mosiychuk.

Andriy Biletsky is also the leader of a Ukrainian organisation called the Social National Assembly. Its aims are stated in one of their online publications:

“to prepare Ukraine for further expansion and to struggle for the liberation of the entire White Race from the domination of the internationalist speculative capital”

“to punish severely sexual perversions and any interracial contacts that lead to the extinction of the white man”

This, according to experts, is a typical neo-Nazi narrative.

‘Foreign journalists’

The Azov Battalion was formed and armed by Ukraine’s interior ministry. A ministerial adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, got angry when I asked him if the battalion had any neo-Nazi links through the Social National Assembly. …

Mr Gerashchenko was adamant, however, that there were no foreign citizens fighting in the Azov Battalion.

“There are foreign journalists, from Sweden, Spain and Italy, who have come to report on the heroic achievements of the fighters in their struggle against terrorism,” he said.

He insisted he had never heard of Mikael Skillt, the Swedish sniper.

Also about the Azov battalion; Fausto Biloslavo mentions:

Gaston Besson, a former French paratrooper who helps oversee the battalion’s foreign cohort. “We are anti-communist, but the spirit is the same as that of the International Brigades that fought [against Fascism] in Spain in the thirties.”

More like the Spanish Legion, the Tercios, Franco’s pro-fascist foreign legion in the Spanish civil war.

Many of the Azov Battalion members describe themselves as ultra-right Ukrainian nationalists. They proudly wear symbols and use slogans associated with neo-Nazis, such as black t-shirts with the Celtic cross. Football ultras have also joined the ranks of the battalion, which was founded by the National Social Assembly, a confederation of ultra-nationalist organizations … This far-right ideology is what continues to draw like-minded activists from Sweden, Italy, France, Canada and even Russia.

For an Italian citizen in the Azov Battalion, 53-year-old Francesco F., the fight in Ukraine has given him a sense of purpose. “On the Maidan barricades I was like ET, finding ‘home’ on the side of Ukrainian nationalists”, said Francesco, who during the 1970s and 80s was affiliated with the National Vanguard ultra-right movement in Italy. “After the annexation of the Crimea and the explosion of the Eastern part of the country, I could not abandon them [Ukrainians] to face the Russian threat alone. That’s why I chose to enlist and fight.”

…

On their way to shooting practice and maneuvers, fighters paid homage to their Italian comrade Francesco F. by singing a hymn honoring Mussolini. Francesco, whom everybody calls “Don,” or “uncle,” fights under the nom de guerre Stan.

Francesco was sitting next to Severin, a 20 year-old Swedish volunteer who has a tattoo on his bodybuilder-like biceps with the inscription “son of Odin.” A pounding nationalist rock song called “Death to the Enemy” played from a mobile phone, and battalion members took turns insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s manhood.

At the firing range, a Swedish instructor offered training on urban warfare. The man, who did not want to be identified, was dressed in black, shaved, lean, and muscular. “I came to train you in the most difficult tactics, urban warfare.” He harangued the battalion with the attitude of an officer. “I will show you how to break into a building, take it and, if you are lucky, get out of it alive.”

Mikael Skillt is perhaps the most well-known foreign fighter of the battalion. This Swedish sniper, with seven years’ experience in the Swedish Army and the Swedish National Guard, was a member of the neo-Nazi Svenskarnas party in Sweden.

The Azov battalion is not the only Kiev military unit including foreign mercenaries. According to Ukrainian paper Kyiv Post, Semyon Semenchenko, commander of the Donbas battalion, is Russian; and

And moves to strengthen the force have not been confined to Ukraine.

Many volunteers come from Belarus, Georgia, Russia and even Spain.

From corporate media and ruling politicians in NATO countries, these days one hears much about the danger that ISIS fighters, returning from Syria, might commit violence in their countries of origin. Prime Minister David Cameron of Great Britain even uses this as a pretext for attacking civil liberties, not only of (ex-)ISIS fighters, but of all airline passengers and of people in general.

What, however, will happen if fascists like Mikael Skillt or Fabio F. return from Ukraine to Sweden, Italy, or other NATO countries, with nearly learned military skills and used to ‘solve’ issues by violence? What will happen if they meet a non-white person; or a person whom they, rightly or wrongly, perceive to be Jewish? or Russian? or Leftist? or gay or lesbian?

You don’t hear David Cameron or similar politicians about that.