The Molot Group, a little known unit in the famous 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, is associated with the Hitlerite “Nord Storm” (NS, a double entendre, also refers to [so-called] National Socialism), another group affiliated with Ukraine’s most powerful neo-Nazis. The Azov movement created the 3rd Assault Brigade but originated in the notorious “Azov Battalion,” which joined the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) and became the “Azov Regiment” by 2015 — and the “Azov Brigade” by 2023.

Whereas the NGU Azov Brigade has made an effort to clean up its image, if only to substantiate propaganda about its “evolution” and “depoliticization,” the 3rd Assault Brigade, established in 2022 by NGU Azov veterans, is more open about its [neofascism]. Many of its units use the Black Sun, and at least a couple use Slavic pagan symbols. Many if not most Ukrainian neo-pagans are possessed with the conviction that their country is actually the ancient Aryan homeland and birthplace of “white civilization.” They appropriated the Black Sun years ago, giving neo[fascists] the excuse that it’s just a pagan symbol, as far as they know.

Mix of pagan and [Fascist] symbols in these patches of 3rd Assault Brigade units. On the left (“Myron platoon”), the symbol of the Slavic pagan god “Chur” above an Azov wolfsangel. On the right (“Algiz platoon”), a “life rune” above crossed German stick grenades from the insignia of the notorious SS Dirlewanger Brigade.

In August, a neo[fascist] fighter from the NGU Azov Brigade died in eastern Ukraine’s Serebryansky forest. Ivan Vovchanskyi, 33, better known as Veleslav Shipit, served in its 5th battalion, “Lyubart.” Several years ago on the Russian social media platform VK, he reposted an image of a Black Sun, along with the lyrics of a song: “We don’t regret anything — Hitler for a thousand years! There will be no more of you, the answer is cast in steel…” In 2018, he made his Facebook profile picture one of him wearing a shirt with a [Fascist] eagle, in which an OUN trident replaced the swastika.

Contrary to a popular evidence-free narrative that the NGU Azov unit was eventually “depoliticized” and somehow separated from the broader Azov movement, the latter’s neo[fascist] paramilitary organization “Centuria” formed the Lyubart battalion in 2022. That year, “Veleslav Shipit” read the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu scripture that describes an epic struggle between warring cousins, which reminded him of the Russia-Ukraine war. Shipit was not your typical Azov fighter, but a “pagan theologian” and “priest” from Lviv. One pagan group that mourned his loss makes amulets for the 3rd Assault Brigade.

My favorite blog, “Events in Ukraine” by Peter Korotaev, published a primer on paganism and Ukrainian neo[fascists] this year. As Peter mentioned, in the summer of 2017, the year that some “experts” say neo[fascists] were purged from the unit, the NGU’s Azov Regiment set up an idol to Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and war.

They did this to celebrate the 1053rd anniversary of a medieval Kievan prince’s “great victory” over the Khazar Khaganate, which had a Turkic elite that converted to Judaism. “This grandiose victory over the Jewish state ranks among the most significant events in Slavic and world history,” said the commander of the Azov Regiment. “The invincible spirit and weapons of the descendants of Perun destroyed the parasitic system.”

According to the NGU Azov website, “Khazaria is a state that for many years led a parasitic way of life, destroyed and plundered the southern lands of Kievan Rus, and destroyed the Slavic people.” This Perun idol was erected on the Azov base near Mariupol to be a sacred site, “where before combat tasks, each fighter could consecrate his weapon and worship the deity, gain strength and invincibility from the shrine for the upcoming battle.”

At the risk of stating the obvious, I would like to confirm that I am in no way sharing this information in hopes of either angering or embarrassing neopagans (many of whom not only loathe fascism but also tend to have a better grasp of the lore than these petty bourgeois paskudnyaks). The point here is identifying neofascists by how they misappropriate cultures.

Zionists in particular (be they Jewish or Christian) have a very similar habit of abusing elements from Judaism for their own neoimperialist or ethnonationalist purposes while their understanding of it tends to be unremarkable. So if white supremacists abusing neopaganism makes you cringe, know that at least you aren’t alone. Either way, hopefully it motivates you all the more to… inconvenience them.