US President Joe Biden's decision to lift the ban on arms supplies to the Ukrainian division "Azov" is "extremely negative," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
This move shows that Washington will stop at nothing in its attempts to harm Russia, Peskov said at a briefing.
Earlier today in the "Washington Post" announced that the State Department is lifting a ten-year-old ban on the "Azov" battalion. to receive American training and weapons after a new analysis found no evidence of human rights abuses by the unit, Reuters noted.
"After a thorough investigation, the Ukrainian 12th Special Purpose Brigade "Azov" successfully passed the inspection under the Leahy Act by the US Department of State, the US State Department said in a statement.
The "Leahy" bans the provision of US military aid to foreign military units found to have committed human rights abuses, according to Reuters. The Azov unit, which has far-right and ultra-nationalist roots, is part of the Ukrainian National Guard and originated from the battalion of the same name formed to fight Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.