Archive of the Azov Battalion: Unregulated Documentation of the Azov Volunteer Battalion for May–September 2014

The article reviews the documents of the archive of unregulated documentation of the Azov Volunteer Battalion for May-September 2014, recently recorded in the Central state archive of public associations of Ukraine. The aim of the publication is to determine the information potential of these documents, in particular their role in studying the history of the unit, the Ukrainian volunteer movement and the initial stage of hostilities in sector «M» of the Anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine as a whole. The research methodology involves the application of the principles of historicism, the usage of studying whole historical sources and being objective. Descriptive method, methods of classifi cation and systematization as well as methods of analysis and synthesis have been used. The scientifi c novelty is conditioned by the high source value of the documents of the Azov Battalion Archive, which are currently completely unexplored within the framework of academic science; these documents are introduced into scientifi c circulation for the fi rst time. The prospects of further research are that by studying the contents of the documents of this archive we can reproduce in detail the history of the unit from its initial recruitment to transformation into a regiment of the same name, including formation, participation in hostilities, structure, personnel, internal organization reform and other features of the unit. In addition, the study of the content of these documents makes it possible to assess the impact of the unit's activities on key military and political events in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The conclusions. Due to the study of documents, the important role of the Azov Battalion Archive in studying the history of the Azov Volunteer Battalion and its infl uence on the course of hostilities in eastern Ukraine was determined. The information potential of these archive is signifi cant, as it consists of documents containing unique information that is not available in any other sources, so these documents cover previously unexplored aspects not only of the history of a volunteer unit, but also key historical events in Ukraine in May-September 2014.