2. KEJAHATAN PERANG AZOV BATTALION DALAM KONFLIK RUSIA-UKRAINA 2014: PERSPEKTIF KONSTRUKTIVIS

Abstract

Russian-Ukrainian Conflict created unfortunate war crime actions led by Ukrainian
voluntary battalion, one of them was Azov Battalion. The crimes included underage
military recruitment, planned civilian attacks, and also torturing war prisoners. This
research analyzed the war crimes of Azov Battalion using the perspective of Constructivist
theory of International Relations. The result of the research showed that Azov Battalion’s
war crimes occurred due to identity factor and culture of organization. Different identity
between pro-Ukrainian government in which Azov included inside and pro-Russian
separatist became the main reason for Azov Battalion to execute the crimes. Aside from
identity, culture of organization which interpreting separatist as opponent while Azov
Battalion in the other hand interpreted themselves as Ukrainian hero due to their
ultranationalist ideology. The ideology of “The Idea of the Nation” forming
ultranationalist scheme to support the crime and create offensive culture in ATO operation.