Ukraine war: Five new developments linked to Russia's invasion
Russia’s Supreme Court declared Ukraine’s Azov Regiment a terrorist organisation, a designation that could lead to terror charges against some of the captured fighters who made their last stand inside Mariupol's shattered steel plant.
Scores of Azov fighters are being prisoner held by Moscow since their surrender in mid-May. Russian authorities have opened criminal cases against them, accusing them of killing civilians. The addition of terrorism charges could mean even longer prison sentences.
The penalties for a terrorist organisation’s leaders would be 15 to 20 years in prison and five to 10 years for members of the group, Russian state media said.
The Azov Regiment dismissed the ruling, accusing the Kremlin of "looking for new excuses and explanations for its war crimes". It urged the US and other countries to declare Russia a terrorist state.
The Azov soldiers played a key part in the defence of Mariupol, holding out for weeks at the southern port city's steel mill despite punishing attacks from Russian forces. Ukraine’s president hailed them and other defenders at the plant as heroes.
Moscow has repeatedly portrayed the Azov Regiment as a Nazi group and accused it of atrocities, though no evidence to back up those claims has been made public.
The regiment, a unit within Ukraine’s National Guard, has a checkered history. It grew out of a group called the Azov Battalion, formed in 2014 as one of many volunteer brigades assembled to fight Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The Azov Battalion drew its initial fighters from far-right circles and elicited criticism for some of its tactics. Its current members have rejected accusations of extremism.
The regiment’s far-right origins have been seized on by the Kremlin as
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