Ukrainian military units deny links to Ryan Wesley Routh
By: Laura Kelly (The Hill)
Quick denial.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Ukrainian military units are denying links to Ryan Wesley Routh, the man arrested in an apparent assassination attempt against former President Trump.
The International Legion of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, part of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate under the Ministry of Defense, said Routh had no relation to the unit, in a statement posted to the social platform X.
"American citizen Ryan Routh has never served in the International Legion of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, has no relation to the unit. Rumors disseminated in certain media are not true," the group said in a statement.
The Azov Brigade also denied links to Routh after a video surfaced that showed Routh in Kyiv attending a rally in support of the military unit. In a statement, the brigade raised the warning that efforts to link Routh to Ukrainian military units plays along with Russian propaganda discrediting Ukrainian forces.
"We would like to officially state that Ryan Wesley Routh has no connection to Azov and has never had any connection to Azov. The peaceful demonstration he attended was open and anyone could join it. He was caught on the video filmed by the protesters by accident," the group said in a statement posted to X.
Routh was interviewed by The New York Times in 2023 about foreign fighters and volunteers in Ukraine and described his efforts to recruit former Afghan soldiers in Iran to fight in Ukraine. Routh told Semafor in an interview published in March 2023 that Ukraine's Ministry of Defense had rejected his attempts to get visas for Afghans to fight in Ukraine.
Trump's position on Russia's war with Ukraine has been a flashpoint in the 2024 presidential contest, with Democrats arguing a Trump victory could lead to new pressure on Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow for a peace agreement.
Trump has been skeptical of U.S. aid to Ukraine, which has sparked worries among U.S. allies in Europe and Kyiv that he might end U.S. military, economic and diplomatic support for Kyiv.
The Azov Brigade is a controversial military unit; it has been revered in Ukraine for the efforts its fighters made in a last stand against Russian forces overtaking Mariupol in the early months of the war. The group has worked to distance itself from its ultranationalist and neo-Nazi origins, which Russia has exploited and used to justify a narrative that its invasion into Ukraine was aimed at combatting Nazis.
In June, the State Department reportedly lifted a ban that prevented the group from using U.S.-provided weapons and receive training, after it determined the group was not in violation of Leahy Laws, which block the distribution of American weapons over concerns of human rights violations.
"We believe that the spread of the narrative about the possible connection between Azov and Ryan Wesley Routh is playing along with Russian propaganda and discredits the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine and the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine in general," the Azov Brigade wrote in the statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to internationals to come and fight for Ukraine since the beginning of the war and in January, offered citizenship to any foreign fighters as the army faces a personnel shortage.
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Yeah, Ryan Routh was actually in Kiev celebrating the Azov brigade. But there's nothing to see here.