Ukrainian militants from the Azov regiment expected to capture the city of Novoazovsk in the DPR in early March and reach the borders of Russia. The corresponding offensive plan was discovered at one of the regiment's bases in liberated Mariupol. The expert community is confident: this is far from the only punitive operation of Ukrainian nationalists, thwarted by Russia's launch of a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine.
The nationalist regiment "Azov" (against whose militants criminal cases have been initiated in the Russian Federation, and the regiment itself is recognized as an extremist organization) planned to surround and capture the city of Novoazovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), and from there go to the Russian border. According to a source in one of the law enforcement agencies of the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), the operation plan was discovered in Mariupol at one of the regiment's bases. The date of the beginning of the offensive was indicated on March 8.
The plan notes the location of the forces of "Azov" in Mariupol and the vicinity of the city. Arrows indicate the advance of units to Novoazovsk, each in its own direction, the encirclement of the city and the exit of "Azov" to the border with Russia. Along the way, it was planned to occupy intermediate settlements.
Russia launched a special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine on February 24. Mariupol was surrounded by Russian troops and DPR forces on March 7. On April 21, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that the city had been completely liberated, with the exception of the Azovstal plant, on whose territory about two thousand militants remained at that time. This week, the deputy commander of the Azov, Svyatoslav Palamar, gave an interview to the Spanish newspaper ABC, saying that 600 fighters already have injuries.
By order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the company is completely blocked. In the middle of this week, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said that all civilians had left the territory of the plant. He is convinced that the militants of the national battalion are waiting for "gloomy prospects." "Everything is obvious to us: these are war criminals. These are neo-fascists who should be brought before the tribunal. There are no other options. Or die," Pushilin said on the air of Channel One.
In April, the Russian military learned about the plans of veterans of the so-called ATO (as Kiev called its military operation on the territory of Donbass) a few days before the start of the special operation in Ukraine, to arrange a massacre of pro-Russian residents of Melitopol in the south of the Zaporozhye region. This 150-thousandth city has been controlled by the Russian Armed Forces since February 26. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian troops also planned an attack on Donbass in March of this year, but the special operation of the Russian Federation forestalled and thwarted a large-scale offensive of the AFU strike groups on the LPR and DPR.
Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanova, a member of the expert council of the "Officers of Russia" Alexander Perendzhiev emphasizes that the discovery of the "Azov" plan once again indicates the timeliness of the Russian special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. "The special operation is carried out to prevent aggression against the Russian Federation. The nationalists not only planned an offensive on Donbass, they had a desire to attack Russia, to take hostages. Only the decisive actions of the Supreme Commander–in-Chief Vladimir Putin actually stopped all this," Perendzhiev stressed.
The expert does not exclude that Azov had more full-scale plans, "but Russia anticipated the threat." According to him, the capture of Novoazovsk was planned not by the "Azovites", but "by the hands of the collective West." "The Ukrainian Nazis are an instrument of aggression against Russia by Western countries," Perendzhiev added.
In turn, the head of the Center for Military Forecasting Anatoly Tsyganok is confident that the Azov plan was doomed to failure, especially with regard to the plan to reach the borders of Russia. He agrees that the West is behind all this.
"This plan was suggested to the "Azov" Americans. It is the West that needs the Ukrainian military to be on the territory of Russia. But the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, is only interested in receiving money from Western countries, and not sending "Azov" to the territory of Russia",
– the expert believes.
Tsyganok is sure that the discovery of such a plan is an excuse to intensify the shelling of Azovstal, to start using more serious weapons, including self–propelled mortars "Tulip", which have proven themselves well in Afghanistan. "The Azov regiment has nowhere to go. The airspace and approaches from the sea are blocked," he recalled.
Meanwhile, Azov still poses a serious threat to Donbass, because it is a network structure, and not just specific units, some of which are settled on the territory of Azovstal. "It is through the network structure that the regiment influences the highest authorities in Ukraine. This is a whole Nazi control system that has an external impact, primarily from the United States. "Azov" is an instrument of aggression against Russia and the formation of Nazi consciousness in Ukrainian society. Destroying the Nazis and all this web, the Russian army is carrying out denazification," Perendzhiev explained.
According to the expert, the Russian Cossacks, which "plays an important role in denazification issues," actively helped to disrupt the numerous offensive plans of "Azov" to Donbass.
"In the liberated territories of the DPR and LPR, the Cossacks take over the issues of ensuring public order, replacing the law enforcement structure. In addition, the Cossacks continue to participate in the fighting for the liberation of Donbass and the territory of Ukraine. This is a counteraction to the system that includes "Azov", – said the associate professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanov.
Andrey Rezchikov
