Unintended Consequences

"If there's one simple lesson we can take away from U.S. involvement in conflicts overseas, it's this: Beware of unintended consequences."
Democratic Congressman John Conyers Jr., Washington

"The first instalment of trainees will be members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (Land Division), which falls under the Ministry of Defence."
"We have been assured that this group will not include members of the Azov Battalion as this battalion is not integrated into the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence."
Department of National Defence spokeswoman, Ashley Lemire, Ottawa

AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov   Volunteers from the Azov volunteer battalion read a prayer after a training session in Kiev, Ukraine, June 13, 2015.

 

Canada's support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia is unqualified. Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, its incitement and arming of ethnic Russian Ukrainian rebels against the government of Ukraine in Kyiv and its blatant efforts to bring eastern Ukraine and cities like Mariupol into the greater Russian geographic orbit defies all international norms of states' sovereignty being respected by their neighbours.

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have expressed concern over American troops training Ukrainian military forces that have absorbed neo-Nazi members of the infamous right-wing Azov battalion. The United States aims to steer clear of any relationship with the Azov battalion members, despite their alignment with the Ukrainian military fighting on the frontline against the separatists in view of the presence of neo-Nazis among them.

Canadian military leaders have discussed how best to ensure that no Canadian trainers will be mentoring fascist extremists during the Ukraine mission set to take place in the near future. No ad hoc militias are meant to be trained by Canadian soldiers; only units of the Ukrainian National Guard and the army. The problem lies in the fact that the one-thousand member Azov Battalion has been absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard.

A spokesman for the battalion informed USA Today that 'only' ten to twenty percent of the unit are neo-Nazis. It cannot have been helpful for their reputation that last year battalion members appeared on German television shown wearing helmets complete with Nazi insignia. For the purposes of training by American and Canadian military, Ukraine is responsible for screening the troops.


^{The Azov battalion uses the neo-Nazi Wolfsangel (Wolf''s Hook) symbol on its banner (Tom Parfitt)}

Congressman Conyers helpfully pointed out that Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced recently that among the first to be trained by the United States would be Azov troops. Obviously not everyone is singing from the same hymnal. Up to 200 Canadian soldiers are slated to train Ukraine's military. The problem is overstated, as far as some Canadian Ukrainians are concerned.

Pointing out that the Azov Battalion's link to fascism has been an issue fabricated by propaganda straight out of Russia, in the hopes that support for Ukraine in the West would be undermined as a result. The battalion itself claims to be outraged by the statements of its neo-Nazi connections; stressing that the unit is patriotic in its ideology, nothing more, nothing less.

Canada has provided over $570 million in aid to Ukraine as an expression of its commitment. Portable shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles would be withheld from Ukrainian troops through the amendments put forward by U.S. Congressman Conyers and Congressman Ted Yoho, to prevent yet another instance where, as in Iraq, U.S.-supplied weapons and vehicles have fallen into the hands of Islamic State jihadis when they were abandoned by Iraqi troops.

And then there is the additional issue that some American supplies that were provided to the government of Ukraine have been seen to have ended up on the black market. Not the most auspicious instance of ensuring confidence.