The study from an institute at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., tracked social media accounts of the far-right group Centuria, documenting its Ukrainian military members giving Nazi salutes, promoting white nationalism and praising members of Nazi SS units. Far-right extremists in Ukraine’s military have bragged they received training from the Canadian Forces and other NATO nations, a new study from an American university has uncovered. (….) Centuria members acknowledged on social media they have received training from the Canadian military and have participated in military exercises with Canada. In May, Centuria organizers boasted to their followers that its members currently served as officers in Ukraine’s military and “have succeeded in establishing cooperation with foreign colleagues from such countries as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA, German and Poland,” according to the institute’s report. (…) One member of the group has received officer training in the United Kingdom’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, graduating in late 2020. Another attended the German Army Officer’s Academy in Dresden in 2019. In the summer of 2019, Centuria came out in support of a rally held by Ukrainian far-right groups to counter the LGBTQ “Kyiv Pride” event. Centuria released a statement that it supported “right patriots, nationalists, conservatives and Christians currently defending the streets of Kyiv from perverts from the LGBT movement and their left-liberal sympathizers.” (…) Centuria also has ties to the Azov movement. In 2018, the U.S. Congress banned the use of U.S. funds to provide arms, training and other assistance to the Azov Battalion because of its links to the far right and Neo Nazis.
via ottawaciticen: Far-right extremists in Ukraine brag they have received training from the Canadian Forces: report