Russia convicts members of Ukraine's Azov regiment on terrorism charges

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Mar 26, 2025 9:13 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

A Russian military court on Wednesday handed down long prison sentences to 12 members of Ukraine's Azov regiment, which led the defence of the city of Mariupol in the early months of the war and is designated as a "terrorist organization" by Russia.

The defendants, charged with "terrorist activity" and with "violently seizing or retaining power," were sentenced to between 13 and 23 years in prison, Russian state media reported.

Independent news outlet Mediazona said 11 other people whom Russia had already returned to Ukraine in prisoner exchanges were also sentenced in absentia. They included nine women who had worked as army cooks.

It said the 12 Azov members, who appeared in court with shaven heads, would appeal the verdicts and that some of them had denied wrongdoing or had said that testimony they had given had been obtained under duress, something Reuters was not able to confirm.

There was no immediate Ukrainian comment on the verdicts. Ukraine's human rights envoy, Dmytro Lubinets, denounced the proceedings when they began in June 2023 as "another sham trial" held for Russia's "own amusement."

The Azov regiment, which is banned in Russia, has been a special focus of Russian anger, often characterized by Moscow as a fanatical grouping of Russia-hating neo-Nazis.

Ukraine rejects Russia's description of Azov as a terrorist organization. The regiment was founded by a hard-line nationalist, Andriy Biletskiy, but subsequently dissociated itself from his politics.

From 2014, it was folded into Ukraine's National Guard and Kyiv says it was reformed away from its radical nationalist origins and is now apolitical.

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For many Ukrainians, Azov fighters are heroes who came to symbolize the spirit of national resistance, clinging on in the devastated ruins of Mariupol as Russia besieged the port city between February and May 2022.

Russia said nearly 2,500 eventually surrendered, emerging from their refuge in a vast network of bunkers and tunnels beneath the city's Azovstal steelworks. The Kremlin said at the time that President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed that they would be treated according to international standards.

The head of Russia's state Investigative Committee said earlier this month that Russian courts had so far convicted 145 Azov members.

Dispute over Black Sea deal implementation

The United States said it reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to cease fighting in the Black Sea and pause attacks against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the U.S. on Wednesday to further sanction Moscow, which he said was clearly not pursuing a "real peace" after a night of Russian drone attacks that caused damage in several places.

Zelenskyy said the ceasefires were effective immediately, but the Kremlin said the Black Sea agreements would not come into effect unless some Russian banks were linked back up with the international financial system. The Kremlin says it is already implementing its pause on energy attacks.

None of the Ukrainian statements said Russia attacked energy infrastructure overnight, but Zelenskyy said they went against the spirit of the peace talks.

"Launching such large-scale attacks after ceasefire negotiations is a clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Russia, which only reports the destruction of drones, said it had destroyed nine drones, including two over the Black Sea. Moscow said Ukraine had tried to attack a gas storage facility in Russian-occupied Crimea and energy infrastructure in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions. It did not report any damage.

There was no immediate response from Kyiv. The Ukrainian military reported 117 drone attacks and local officials said the city of Kryvyi Rih had been hit by the biggest drone attack it has faced since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Nightly Russian drone attacks have been a feature of life in Ukrainian cities for many months. So have power outages, as missiles have hammered the power grid, although Russian attacks have targeted gas facilities more recently. Kyiv has used drones to hit Russian oil facilities.

While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

Russia wants the reconnection of its state agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payments system. That and other steps could require agreement from European countries.

"As for the Black Sea grain initiative, it can be activated after a number of conditions are implemented," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Moscow in 2023 withdrew from the original deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in 2022, complaining that obstacles to its own food and fertilizer exports had not been eased as promised under the terms of that agreement.