In the Eye of the Storm: Origins, Ideology, and Controversies of the Azov Brigade, 2014-2023

This volume focuses on a highly controversial unit within the Ukrainian military, the Azov (former regiment) Brigade. Azov is known for its far-right origins but has garnered worldwide attention through its role in the defense of Mariupol in 2022. There is still confusion and obfuscation about the Azov Brigade’s development since 2014 and its status today. Many conflate the unit and political Azov Movement, with the latter emerging later and using the success of the former as a launchpad for public attention. The contributors examine Azov’s ideology, its roles, and the controversies around the unit. They scrutinize the history and evolution of the unit from creation to today. The contributors include Rosaria Puglisi, Bertrand de Franqueville, Ivan Gomza, Mollie Saltskog, Kacper Rekawek, Taras Tarasiuk, Petro Burkovskiy, and Przemyslaw Witkowski.

The editors:

Prof Christian Kaunert is Professor of International Security at Dublin City University as well as Director of the International Centre for Policing and Security at the University of South Wales, and of the Jean Monnet Network on EU Counter-Terrorism. He is editor of European Politics and Society, Journal of Contemporary European Studies and Journal of European and American Intelligence Studies.

Dr Alex MacKenzie is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Liverpool. With Christian Kaunert and Sarah Léonard, he is author of The European Union as a Global Counter-Terrorism Actor (Edward Elgar 2022), and has published in many prestigious journals, including European Security, German Politics, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Global Affairs, European Foreign Affairs Review, and the Journal of European Integration.

Adrien Nonjon is a PhD candidate in History at the Centre de Recherche Europes-Eurasie (CREE) of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris. From 2019-21, Adrien was a research fellow at George Washington University in Washington, DC. He is author of Le regiment Azov: un nationalisme ukrainien en Guerre (Editions du Cerf 2023).