Founded as a volunteer militia by members of the Patriot of Ukraine neo-Nazi group during the early days of the war in country's east, in 2014, Azov helped recapture Mariupol from the separatists before being incorporated into the national guard as a regiment. Its troops have been accused of war crimes by the United Nations, while its paramilitary arm, the National Corps, has been linked to attacks on local Roma and members of the LGBT community.

But while there has been vigilante violence by far-right groups over the past decade, some of it reported by Colborne for Haaretz, violence against Jews is relatively rare - despite years of Russian media reports claiming the opposite.

Despite the consistently poor showing of Azov's political wing in Ukrainian elections, Russia has consistently played up its existence as evidence that the country is controlled by a fascist junta. Many Ukrainians are loath to discuss the movement, though, calling the allegations against it Kremlin propaganda.
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Ironically, as Russian media was accusing Ukraine of sweeping neo-Nazis under the rug this week, the country's parliament passed a bill on Tuesday establishing financial penalties and prison terms for those convicted of hate crimes against Jews. In order to be enacted, the bill now awaits the signature of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is himself Jewish.