After a long ban, the Azov Brigade has received permission from the USA to use American weapons on the frontline. The ban on arms supplies was related to the Leahy law. Find out what this law was and why it was applied to Ukrainian defenders

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The Ukrainian brigade "Azov", which gained fame for quite a long time due to successful operations on the front, has finally received permission from the United States to use American weapons. The ban had been in effect for a long time. We tell you what it was connected with and what is the law "Leahy", which prevented bregade from receiving modern armament of the States.

On the night of 11 June, the Washington Post edition came out with information from the US State Department that the Administration of President Joe Biden had given the go-ahead for the use of US weapons by the Azov brigade.

The Azov Brigade itself, citing the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, confirmed that it had received the right to receive security assistance from the United States and called it "a new page in the history" of the unit.

What does this mean for Azov?

The brigade, which has been part of Ukraine's National Guard since 2015, will now have access to the same military assistance as other Ukrainian units.

"After a thorough vetting process, the Ukrainian 12 Special Forces Brigade Azov passed the Leahy inspection conducted by the U.S. Department of State," the State Department said." ," the State Department said, adding that it had found no evidence of human rights violations by the brigade.

It should be noted that the so-called Leahy law (in honour of the author of the law, Senator Patrick J. Leahy) prohibits the State Department and the Pentagon from providing military assistance to units of foreign forces that violate human rights.

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What does this have to do with Azov?

Azov came under just such a ban about seven years ago, as US officials believed some of its founders held racist, xenophobic and ultra-nationalist views, and UN human rights activists rebuked the brigade for violating humanitarian norms.

Ukraine has long sought the lifting of the ban, claiming that the brigade could have been more effective during the defence of Azovstal in 2022 if it had access to US equipment.

It should be noted that the ban also covered the unit's participation in exercises organised by the Americans.

Azov has long asked for American weapons

Back in April 2024, the commander of the Azov brigade Denis "Redis" Prokopenko called for the brigade to be excluded from the United States defence appropriations bill, the so-called blacklists, because it does not allow the brigade to be provided with Western weapons.

Prokopenko noted that since 2017, a number of American laws on consolidated appropriations of the United States contain an amendment that prohibits any assistance, including weapons, to Azov. This amendment was explained by the fact that Azov is "blatantly neo-Nazi" and "fascist".

This amendment was later cancelled, but the ban on the transfer of weapons to the brigade was established by the Lihi law. 

Ukrainians were also outraged by this information and soon a petition appeared on the President's website instructing the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to urgently negotiate with the United States to lift restrictions on the provision of weapons, other assistance and training for the 12th Special Forces Brigade "Azov" of the National Guard of Ukraine. In an ultra-short period of time, this petition gained the necessary 25 thousand signatures.

We remind you! Ukraine has already managed to deliver effective strikes with Western weapons on the territory of russia. The first American missiles flew at russia a few hours after Washington officially authorised strikes with its weapons. What targets the Ukrainian armed forces have already hit and how this affects the russians, read here.

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