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Azov battalion leader released by Turkey retakes command post

According to the Ukrainian interior minister, Denis Prokopenko is currently responsible for personnel training

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. The leader of Ukraine’s Azov nationalist battalion (designated as a terrorist organization and outlawed in Russia), Denis Prokopenko, who surrendered to Russian forces in May 2022 and was later returned to his country by Turkey, has retaken command of his unit, Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said.

"The Azov unit is headed by Denis Prokopenko," he said in an interview with the Ukrainskaya Pravda online media outlet. According to the minister, Prokopenko is currently responsible for personnel training.

Earlier, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Defense and Security Committee Viktor Bondarev told TASS that the need for captive Azov commanders to actually remain under house arrest in Turkey until the end of Moscow’s special military operation was a cornerstone agreement related to prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine. However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced on July 8 that he was returning home along with the Azov commanders. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s National Guard said on August 17 that the Azov unit had resumed its missions in the combat zone.

The Azov nationalist battalion was formed from far-right extremists in 2014. Its members are known to have tortured and murdered Donbass civilians. Russia’s Supreme Court designated Azov as a terrorist organization on August 3, 2022.

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