According to Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, “The Azov Movement is a far-right nationalist network of military, paramilitary, and political organizations based in Ukraine.” They note that:
Azov’s founder, Andriy Biletsky, stated it was Ukraine’s mission to “Lead the white races of the world in a final crusade… against semite-led subhumans.”
In spite of this, a member of the Azov battalion and two wives of Azov members will be coming to Stanford on June 29. This is the second time Azov Nazis have visited Stanford, the last time being September 30, 2022. The Ukrainian Students Association at Stanford posted the following on their instagram:
The last time Azov visited Stanford, Michael McFaul, the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, which published the report on Azov, spoke at the event. Azov’s last tour of the US has been covered in detail by Moss Robeson in his Ukes, Kooks, and Spooks blog. Michael McFaul is the one the loudest apologists for Ukrainian Nazism today. He served as the US ambassador to Russia from 2012-2014 under president Obama. He admitted in 2004 that the US interfered in the internal affairs of Ukraine during the “Orange Revolution.” Of course, according to him it was for the good of democracy.
In response to the last Stanford event, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov said, “It would appear that in its maniacal drive to tarnish and cancel Russia, the US is prepared to glorify Nazism.” Stanford apparently has no problem with this as the latest scheduled event shows.
Stanford does not have to open their doors to Nazis. On March 11, 2023, Stanford spoke out against Nazism when a Swastika was found in one of the dorms:
We are writing today with the deeply disturbing news that multiple Nazi swastikas and an image of Adolf Hitler were found on a whiteboard affixed to a Florence Moore Hall dormitory room door. A student who resides inside the room was alarmed to find the images on their whiteboard, and reported the incident to residential staff members. The Stanford University Department of Public Safety is investigating the matter and believes the incident could be a crime given that a resident of the room identifies as Jewish and the location of the Nazi swastikas may have been selected to intimidate the occupant.
We wish to be clear: Stanford wholeheartedly rejects antisemitism, racism, hatred, and associated symbols, which are reprehensible and will not be tolerated.
If this is truly the case, why do they tolerate Azov openly displaying the Wolfsangel in their halls? Why haven’t they censured the Ukrainian Student Association at Stanford for inviting Azov? In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League published a report on white supremacy that stated:
Investigative reports on Azov from Bellingcat and Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty point to the many ways Azov has reached out to like-minded American extremists. Those heading up outreach efforts include Denis Nikitin, a Russian/German neo-Nazi and founder of the White Rex white nationalist clothing label, who acts as an "unofficial ambassador" for Azov, and Olena Semenyaka, a spokesperson for the group who travels the world networking for the group. Semenyaka has been photographed with a Nazi flag.
While Olena Semenyaka is not attending the Stanford event, Azov fighter Sergeant Arseniy Fedosiuk has been with Azov since 2016. He was at the Maidan and joined another volunteer battalion in 2014 to fight in the Donbass. Kateryna Prokopenko is also attending. She is the wife of Azov commander Lt-Colonel Denis Prokopenko. For these people, Azov’s well documented Nazi ties are something they claim don’t exist.
The Azov Nazi tour will also be visiting Lemont, Illinois on June 24, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Los Angeles on June 25, and are the honored guests at an Azov dinner at the House of Ukraine in San Diego on June 26. Tickets for this event start at $80. They were also in Chicago on June 9 at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art and New York on June 3. The Stanford appearance is just one of many on a nationwide tour.
As always with the US establishment, as long as you're our strategic ally you can commit crimes against humanity right and left and we'll always look the other way. Human rights has nothing to do with US geopolitics, except when it's weaponized against disfavored (i.e. independent) nations.
It's pretty crazy they had the SS-inspired logo on the wall and no one thought to ask about it.