Andriy Biletsky

Andriy Yevheniiovych Biletsky (Ukrainian: Андрій Євгенійович Білецький [ɐnˈd⁽ʲ⁾r⁽ʲ⁾ij jeu̯ˈɦɛn⁽ʲ⁾ijowɪdʒ biˈlɛtsʲkɪj]; born 5 August 1979) is a Ukrainian far-right politician and brigadier general. He is the leader of the political party National Corps and commander of the 3rd Army Corps of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. Biletsky, a Kharkiv native, first became a figure in the Ukrainian far-right in the 2000s, where he initiated a revival of the nationalist movement Patriot of Ukraine in 2005, and co-founded the Social-National Assembly, both organizations which have been described as espousing forms of ethnic nationalism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazi and neo-fascist ideologies. In 2011, he was arrested, accused of robbery and assault, and then freed in early 2014 after the Euromaidan Revolution, as the new government considered him a political prisoner of the former Yanukovych government. As the war in Donbas escalated, he used his connections and position of leadership in the far-right to organize a volunteer militia to confront pro-Russian separatists. In May 2014, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sanctioned the militia, officially designating it the Azov Battalion, and Biletsky led it at multiple operations against Separatist forces in the Donbas region. In September they were integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine. Biletsky left the leadership of the Azov Regiment in October 2014 to focus on politics. At the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he was elected People's Deputy of Ukraine, and in 2015 he founded the National Corps party, aiming to mobilize his network of far-right activists, veterans, and supporters of the broader Azov movement into a formal political organization. Despite its high visibility and organizational resources, the National Corps failed to secure significant electoral success at the national level, and Biletsky lost his parliamentary seat following the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Biletsky organized...