MOSCOW—Russia’s top court on Tuesday designated Ukraine’s Azov Regiment as a terrorist group, a Reuters correspondent in the courtroom said, paving the way for captured soldiers to be tried under stringent anti-terror laws and be jailed for up to 20 years.
The Azov Regiment, which has far-right and ultra-nationalist roots, has been one of the most prominent Ukrainian military formations fighting against Russia in eastern Ukraine. Having begun as a paramilitary unit fighting against pro-Russian rebels in 2014, it was later integrated into Ukraine’s national guard.
Kyiv says it has been reformed away from its radical origins and that it has nothing to do with politics. The regiment itself has also distanced itself from the views of its nationalistic founder….