The National Guard of Ukraine’s Twitter account published a video tweet claiming that Azov fighters of the National Guard coated their bullets with pig fat to be used against Chechen forces fighting from the Russian side. The actual tweet reads “Azov fighters of the National Guard greased the bullets with lard against the Kadyrov orcs👊”
The tweet was made on 06:50 PM on Sunday (27 February).
Amidst the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, many news outlets have reported that the Chechen fighters have been deployed too.
Who are the Chechen fighters?
Chechnya is a Russian republic located north of Georgia. Chechen forces are the military force in charge of Chechenya’s defence. The republic is not an independent entity and is subject to Russian laws and regulations. The majority of them are Muslims.
Ramzan Kadyrov is the head of the Chechen Republic. Kadyrov refers to himself as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foot soldier, and he is said to have sent fighters into the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Chechen forces are regarded as one of the most violent and battle-hardened troops in the world with several stories claiming that many of them were once members of ISIS. Several sources have also indicated that they have been marching towards Kyiv following their deployment in Ukraine.
According to several reports, they were met with fierce opposition from Ukrainian forces, and many of them were slain, including their general Magomed Tushayev. However, amid conflicting reports from both sides, this is yet to be confirmed.
The Ukrainian National Guards uploaded a video of pig fat being applied to bullets since Chechen soldiers are Muslims and the pig is deemed Haram in Islam.
Twitter flagging video but still not removing it
Twitter has tagged the video as violating the standards and promoting hateful behaviour, but it has allowed it to stay accessible in the “public’s interest.” This has sowed confusion in the social media community as to how a tweet may still be accessed even if it violates standards.
Digging into the Twitter rules, it can be found what defines public interest on Twitter and what are the exceptions. The rules state. “We consider content to be in the public interest if it directly contributes to understanding or discussion of a matter of public concern.”
“At present, we limit exceptions to one critical type of public-interest content—Tweets from elected and government officials—given the significant public interest in knowing and being able to discuss their actions and statements,” it added.
As a result, Twitter may, in rare cases, opt to keep up a tweet from an elected or state figure that would normally be removed. Instead, they hide it behind a notification that provides detail about the rule infringement and informs readers about the tweet.
Twitter’s conflicting stand on the issue has been flagged by many.
Azov unit of the National Guard is pro-Nazi?
It is notable here that the Azov battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard is a neo-Nazi unit and they often flaunt their Nazi inclinations openly. It is a far-right volunteers group and their leaders have called Putin ‘a Jew’ in the past. Over the years, there have been several media reports and concerns from experts regarding how the Ukrainian regime arming and supporting the neo-Nazi white supremacists may be a bad idea.
In the past, the US and Canada have also helped the neo-Nazi units with weapons and training.