When deciding to recognize Azov as an alleged terrorist organization, the Supreme Court of Russia did not understand that it was a structural unit of the National Guard, the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said.

"As for the recognition by the Supreme Court of Russia of Azov as a terrorist organization ... the initiators of the laws [of the trial] ... did not even understand that we were talking about a separate special forces unit of a state structure, and not about an informal paramilitary group, " the Defense Ministry said on Telegram on Wednesday.

The Main Intelligence Agency officially reported that Azov is not a separate "regiment", but a structural unit within the 12th operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine - "a military formation subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was created and legally operates in the state and today continues to perform combat missions to protect Ukraine."

As previously reported, the Supreme Court of Russia granted the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation to recognize the Ukrainian regiment Azov as a "terrorist organization" and ban its activities in the Russian Federation.