The Azov Movement in the West: achievements in 2019
Despite the fact that the official agenda of National Corps is a course towards Intermarium (Adriatic-Baltic-Black Sea Union), the years 2018 and 2019 were marked not only by regional events of the Intermarium Support Group, founded by Andriy Biletsky, Leader of National Corps, but also by popularization of our project in Western Europe and establishing of cooperation with both friendly Western European parties and those influenced by pro-Russian lobbyists. Along with it, we find sympathizers of Central and Eastern European Union among political forces and media platforms of the United States.
Having engaged in our activities, we adhere not only to the principle of paneuropeanism and alternative universalism, which shall prevent us from regional isolationism in the 21st century. Nor solely to the possibility (yet remote possibility) of the alternative of the EU all-European integration based on Central and Eastern Europe in case of growing animosity and decentralization of Europe.
It is a high time to admit that pro-Russian threat in Europe is tied not only with right-wing populists and “radicals”. After all, such influential right-populist parties like Polish PiS (Law and Justice) and Estonian EKRE (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), which lined up a fifth of seats on parliamentary elections, assume anti-Kremlin geopolitical attitude. Furthermore, namely these parties: both EKRE or Latvian coalition party “National Alliance” – are actual and potential Intermarium Support Group partners.
The problem is of another kind: not only a potentially pro-Russian coalition gathers in the European Parliament around the Italian Lega and German AfD – official Berlin, an economic leader of the EU, gradually weakens its resistance against Nord Stream 2, the pipeline which shall be built in circumvention of Ukrainian territory and rests on not only Russian and German but also Austrian, Danish and French funds. Following its own interests, neoliberal European Union persuades Ukraine to “conciliate” with the Russian Federation, which, in its turn, contradicts the interests of the US and some Central and Eastern European Countries only – again, “right-populist”.
Under such conditions, it is important to prevent the Intermarium Support Group’s activites from deceleration, especially in the light of electoral success of the Finns Party, The Swedish Democrats, Danish People’s Party and other parliamentary forces of the region, which are currently either in the danger zone, or already cooperating with pro-Russian anti-immigration colleagues from Western Europe. Furthermore, given the lack of political unity among such parties, it is worth to give a due time alternative for those willing to think strategically and to avoid the fate of Putin’s fan club.
However, it is no less important to multiply our informational presence in Western European and American informational field via cooperation with “pro-Ukrainian” organizations and even their separate structures.
The starting point of informational expansion of the Azov Movement in the Western European field shall be considered to the Paneuropa Conference, which took place 28 April 2017 in Kyiv under the auspices of all-European Reconquista movement founded in 2015 on the back of mass foreign volunteer support in the National Liberation War in the East of Ukraine. This conference, dedicated to the idea of the alternative to European integration and geopolitical cooperation, gathered representatives of French, Italian, German, Swedish, Croatian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian emigrational political forces supporting a persistent course towards the creation of a sovereign Paneuropean confederation.
On October 15, 2018, the second Paneuropean conference was held in Kyiv, which was visited by local political forces, but also by speakers from Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the US. Similarly to the constituent conference, it included both the political, party element and the metapolitical component represented by Western intellectuals and bloggers associated with the Third Way, identitarian movement, French New Right (Nouvelle Droite) and American Alt-Right. Both conferences have gathered such prominent Western pro-Intermarium metapolitical thinkers like Gabriele Adinolfi, Pascal Lassalle, Marcus Follin (The Golden One), and Greg Johnson.
Active expansion of the Azov Movement into Western geopolitical and metapolitical sphere has begun with the participation of its representatives Victoria Polunina and Olena Semenyaka in the paneuropean congress named REGeneration Europa, which was organized on May 11-12, 2018, in the German town of Riesa by a youth branch of NPD, Junge Nationalisten. Though a marginal pro-LDNR Russian group was also represented at the conference, which provoked the pro-Ukrainian wing, it was the first mass Western European event marking the start of the further Azov “tour” across Western Europe on the invitations from the interested in the prospects of our cooperation.
Next year, in spite of a fact that the NPD party has a split on the question of a military and geopolitical conflict between Ukraine and Russia, its youth branch took part in the second Paneuropa Conference in Kyiv and already on February 15-16, 2019 international secretary of National Corps Olena Semenyaka accepted the invitation of the NPD in Saxon Switzerland and the metapolitical center Haus Montag to speak at the event in Pirna in the course of which she described the history of the Azov Movement, the next day after the march in memory of victims of Dresden bombardment.
Among all described projects of the Azov Movement, the most challenging, but promising one is the geopolitical program of National Corps: Intermarium defense union as a platform for the alternative to the EU sovereign Paneuropean union. The false rivalry of the West and the Russian Federation creates the unique chance for the intended “buffer zone,” Eastern Europe, to become the center of the restoration of the all-European geopolitical subjectivity.
Moreover, this event was the first in the cycle of events within the framework of the «Ukrainian Year» in Germany, on the initiative of Thomas Rackow, the author of the charity German-Ukrainian-Norwegian Kraftquell (Source of Power) project aimed at organizing the vacation for veteran Ukrainian families in Germany and Norway as a sign of the solidarity of the European family with the belligerent Ukraine. He announced this project during the Paneuropa Conference II in Kyiv and on completion of the speech by Olena Semenyaka in Pirna.
In addition, namely on his initiative, Olena visited the annual convention of autonomous Norwegian nationalists in Eastern Norway who were interested in the geopolitical program of National Corps and supported the Kraftquell project.
In June 2018, Olena Semenyaka also delivered a speech to the audience of Flamberg Club, the identitarian metapolitical center in Halle, within the framework of an event entitled “Ukrainian Evening: geopolitics, ideas, prospects”. She revealed the basis of Ukrainian state building, identity, the conflict with Russia, history and structure of the Azov Movement and the geopolitical project of Intermarium.
As soon as 3-5 of August 2018, Olena Semenyaka also delivered a lecture at the first Jungeuropa Forum organized in Dresden by Jungeuropa Verlag, the friendly publishing house of identitarian Third Way literature. Olena described to German and Austrian identitarians the geopolitical, cultural and philosophical foundations of Intermarium.
June 7, 2018, Olena Semenyaka revealed the metapolitical strategies of the Azov Movement at the cultural and political event entitled “The Youth Storms” in Kirchheim, Thuringia on the invitation of the German party Der III. Weg (Third Way), a long-time ally of the Azov Movement, the first ones who united with the German branch of the Reconquista Movement in their efforts to destroy the information blockade around the fight of Ukrainian patriots.
In the wake of the Third Conference of the Intermarium Support Group in October 13, 2018, which, among others, was attended by the representative of the Academic Legion Project of the Ministry of National Defense of Poland Damian Duda and Croatian Armed Force General Brigadier Bruno Zorica, right on February 15-16, 2019, Eugene Vriadnyk, combat veteran of the Azov Regiment, founder of Plomin publishing house, delivered a speech on his vision of archeofuturistic future of Central and Eastern Europe at the Prabudimas Conference in Vilnius, as well as took part in a torchlight procession in honor of the anniversary of Lithuania’s independence, which were organized by the Kryptis ethnofuturist association.
January 7, 2019, Olena Semenyaka participated in the commemoration of three young Italian patriots killed by communists in Acca Larentia massacre. The march, dedicated to the bloody event of the Lead 70-s, has become an all-Italian sacral rite precisely thanks to the activity of Casa Pound Italia. This organization has also brought this event even to the all-European and transcontinental level, gathering participants as far as from Quebec. This visit has strengthened the partnership with CasaPound Italia represented by their international correspondent Alberto Palladino at the Second Paneuropa Conference in Kyiv.
Besides, National Corps has been a participant of the Third Etnofutur Conference, which took place on the 23rd of February in Tallinn. This event is held annually by the youth organization of Estonian People’s Conservative Party (EKRE), Blue Awakening (Sinine Äratus). Traditionally, the strong emphasis has been laid on the conceptual synergy of the nationalist speakers of the Intermarium region. Olena Semenyaka has delivered a speech entitled “Middle Europe in the Age of Caesarism and the Purpose of Ethnofuturism”. In her speech, she mentioned that namely the Azov Movement is the brightest example of Ethnofuturism as a combination of innovative technologies with the policy of protecting ethnocultural identities.
Having referred to Oswald Spengler’s concept of Caesarism as the final period of the historic cycle of the West which began with the first world war, Olena presented Intermarium as space where Old Europe can return to life again entering a new cultural and civilizational turn.
In addition, National Corps sent his representative to support EKRE ahead of parliamentary elections. Fortunately, the allied party showed an exceptionally high result. On February 24, Olena, also traditionally, participated the celebration of the independence of Estonia and anniversary torchlight parade.
On March 30, 2019, Olena Semenyaka spoke at the Pan-Scandinavian Scandza Forum founded by Fróði Midjord. The forum addressed the problems of the lacking freedom and imported chaos in modern Western societies (”Anarcho-Tyranny”). Having investigated the issue in the context of Ernst Jünger’s criticism of neo-totalitarian police state, as well as the need to put modern audiovisual technologies into service of our own historical visions, she called the region of Central and Eastern Europe the space of political freedom where it would be possible to develop the paneuropean infrastructure for such purposes. The event was also attended by members of Swedish Democrats and Alternative for Sweden.
After the Scandza Forum, Olena Semenyaka became the guest of the “Anton och Jonas” video program during which she discussed the course of the Maidan Revolution, the reasons for the geopolitical confrontation with Russia, the milestones of the formation of the Azov Movement and the Intermarium project. Her interlocutors were Anton Stigermark, the representative of the Alternative for Sweden party, the author of the “Memetic Warfare”, who also participated in the MMA tournament at the Kyiv Reconquista Club, and Jonas Nilsson, coordinator of the Boer Project, also the MMA enthusiast and a former instructor of the Azov regiment, which hosted a lot of Swedish military volunteers.
Finally, on April 6, 2019, the National Corps, represented by the international secretary and coordinator of the Intermarium project Olena Semenyaka, took part in the Awakening II Сonference in the Finnish city of Turku. At this conference, Olena made a presentation "Finnish-Ukrainian Cooperation Then and Now As Seen by National Corps” during which she discussed the diplomatic cooperation of Finland with the Hetmanate and the UPR in the previous century, in particular, thanks to the ardent Finnish advocate of the Ukrainian national liberation movement Hermann Gummerus, as well today’s step-by-step integration program of the Intermarium Support Group.
In addition to foreign speakers and guests, the event was visited by members of the Finnish identitarian organization Suomen Sisu and the youth branch of the Finns Party. Finnish audience, which had its own experience of Russian-Finnish wars, was fascinated by the natural geopolitical vector towards Intermarium. It is worth to mention that the Finns Party has lined up 39 parliamentary seats out of 200 during the recent election.
It is planned that Olena Semenyaka will take part in Forum Prisma Actual on May 4, 2019, in Lisbon, on the invitation of Escudo Idetitario, Portuguese identitarian organization. Along with developed Spanish branch of the paneuropean Reconquista movement, Portuguese patriots couldn`t help resonating with the cause of the novel Ukrainian “conquistadors.”
Among the Southern European countries, the great interest in Azov’s activity is shared by Greece whose patriotic audience also feels the cultural and geoeconomic affinity towards the project of Intermarium and invite National Corps to their land.
However, the priority of the Intermarium Support Group for the second half of 2019, of course, is holding the Fourth International Conference bringing the regional European integration to the new level. According to preliminary plans, the conference will be held in Zagreb, a center of the Adriatic angle of Intermarium.
