In the latest confirmation that Ukraine’s military has a Nazi streak, the German government revealed that it has expelled seven Ukrainian soldiers who were displaying Nazi symbols while they were in the country for training. 

Wednesday’s disclosure was prompted by an inquiry from the populist Alternative For Germany (AfD) party, which has been surging in popularity on a platform that opposes mass immigration, the green agenda, and the Western proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

Azov soldiers were caught on TV wearing Nazi symbols in 2014 — the year of the Western-backed coup that overthrew the elected president (NBC)

Among other several other questions raising concerns over Ukrainian extremism, the AfD asked if Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany had been found displaying extremist symbols, and if so, “what, if anything, has the federal government done about it.” 

In a four-page response posted to the German Bundestag website, the government said (per Google translate), “Seven such cases were identified during training conducted by the Bundeswehr for the Ukrainian armed forces.” The transgressing Ukrainians were “repatriated” to Ukraine. 

The government added that German soldiers who are charged with training Ukrainians are trained to recognize right-wing extremist symbols and to address them. In addition, upon their arrival in Germany, Ukrainian soldiers are given “instruction regarding Nazi symbolism.”

In its inquiry, AfD highlighted Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, “which is classified by many experts as right-wing extremist and uses the Wolfsangel (a symbol of several SS units, banned in the Federal Republic of Germany) as a symbol.” 

Logos of the Azov regiment use the Wolfsangel symbol and, in the center, the Sonnenrad, aka “Sunwheel” or “Black Sun” (via FAIR)

AfD asked if the government was aware that social media shows Nazi symbols appearing on Ukrainian weapons, and asked if the German government had contacted Ukrainian counterparts about that — and especially about their potential appearance on German-supplied weapons. The government said the social media images don’t include German weapons.  

The government noted that approximately 10,000 soldiers were trained “on German soil in 2023.” We can’t help but ponder the likelihood that, beyond the seven deportations, there were plenty more cases where offenders were handled more forgivingly and discretely (“keep that tattoo covered”…”lose that patch!”). 

The AfD asked if Ukrainian extremism poses a threat to a potential peace process in Ukraine. The government replied, “No, it is Russia’s imperialism that underlies the illegal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, and that threatens security in Europe.” 

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin said one goal of the “special operation” was the “denazification” of Ukraine. The Soviet Union endured a staggering 24 million civilian and military deaths during World II. 

It’s worth noting a particular irony: The German party that’s routinely demonized as being “far right” and “extremist” is the one that pulled back the curtain on this new evidence of real-world Nazi tendencies in Ukraine. 

Around the time that news of Germany’s deportation of Ukrainian Nazis was breaking, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was dining in a war-veteran-themed restaurant in Kiev. Predictably, that place is adorned with extremist imagery too: