Call of Duty: Warzone Player Discovers Controversial Emblem in the Game

A Call of Duty: Warzone player has discovered an emblem in the game that is incredibly similar to the logo of the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian National Guard regiment with admitted Neo-Nazi members. The emblem in question is available as part of the game's Chimera pack. The similarity was discovered and shared by a poster on the Call of Duty: Warzone subreddit. The version that appears in Warzone has colors that have been inverted (yellow on purple, rather than purple on yellow), but the two emblems are otherwise identical. It's difficult to say how this might have happened, but the similarity is impossible to deny!

The original post from the Warzone subreddit can be found embedded below.

Note to devs, this insignia is used by a Neo-Nazi battalion in Ukraine from r/CODWarzone

Azov Battalion was founded in 2014, and remains active in Ukraine, making the symbol's use all the more troubling. In a 2015 interview with USA Today, a drill sergeant affiliated with the group named "Alex" admitted to being a Nazi. A spokesman for the group, Andriy Diachenko, admitted that Azov Battalion does include Nazis, but those represent "only 10% to 20% of the group's members." Azov Battalion's use of Nazi symbols has been well documented from other news outlets, and the group has been accused of abuse against civilians. In 2018, the United States House of Representatives blocked training and support for the group based on those ties.

The original Reddit poster that brought the connection to light also shared an image in which a Nazi sympathizer gleefully identifies the emblem in the game as the same one used by Azov Battalion. Given the group's history, it will be interesting to see whether or not Activision and Raven Software will opt to remove or change the Chimera emblem. It's possible that the resemblance is coincidental, or it was included in the game by developers unfamiliar with the group's history. Regardless of what the rationale is, it's presence in the game is clearly problematic.

Call of Duty: Warzone is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

Have you encountered the Chimera emblem in Call of Duty: Warzone? Are you familiar with the logo's history? Let us know in the comments or share directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!