The address of the Azov Battalion fighter during Zelensky's speech before the Greek Parliament provoked a scandal among left-wing parties in this country.
Address of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to the Greek Parliament in Thursday sparked outrage from opposition parties after a man who identified himself as an ethnic Greek and a member of the Ukrainian National Azov Battalion Azov appeared in a video, according to Reuters.
Zelensky spoke about the destruction of the Russian-besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol, home to thousands of ethnic Greeks, and turned to Athens for help.
who is now a member of the National Guard of Ukraine.
“I address you as a Greek by birth. I am Mykhailo, my grandfather fought with the Nazis … I take part in the defense of Ukraine as part of the Azov Battalion,” he said.
Read also: Azov Regiment: answers to the most common questions in the West about the special unit of the National Guard
Zelensky, who was invited by the conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to address the Greek parliament, received applause from the audience.
But the video provoked a negative reaction on social media and an angry reaction from left-wing parties. Shortly after the speech, Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras said the incident was a provocation.
“Solidarity with the Ukrainian people is a given. But the Nazis cannot have a say in parliament,” he said. p>A spokesman for the Greek government said that the report of a member of the Azov Battalion was “erroneous and inappropriate.”
within the Azov Sea, as part of the OOS forces. Azov liberated Mariupol in June 2014, took part in the battles near Ilovaisk, defended Mariupol from the end of August 2014, and carried out an offensive in Shirokino in February 2015.
narratives and propaganda of foreign journalists and not only them may mistakenly think that a separate special unit “Azov”, which is part of the National Guard and defends today from the occupiers of Mariupol, is allegedly a so-called “neo-Nazi regiment”. Which, in fact, was never the case. Vyacheslav Likhachev, a historian and member of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties (CSC), provided answers to the most common questions about Azov in the West, published by CSC Board Chairman Oleksandra Matviychuk.
