A US veteran who previously served in Ukraine’s Azov Battalion has been revealed as a participant in the new season of Netflix’s popular reality dating show “Love is Blind.”
The streaming giant launched the first six episodes of the seventh season of the franchise on Wednesday. The show’s central concept revolves around single men and women deciding whether to commit to marriage with a chosen partner before actually meeting face-to-face.
One of the participants is Bohdan Olinares, introduced as a “proud immigrant and Ukrainian refugee” thankful for the opportunity to live “the American dream.” He is looking for a partner who can “embrace his history and unique upbringing.”
“The former Marine was previously married for five years, which he considers the craziest thing he’s done for love,” according to his profile. “Since then, Bohdan has become crystal clear about what he’s searching for thanks to the power of time and therapy.”
Olinares, 36, was interviewed last year by the US state-funded news outlet Voice of America (VOA) which reported how he had returned to Ukraine and joined the Azov Battalion – a unit known for its origins as a neo-Nazi organization with significant connections to far-right groups around the world.
© Instagram/bohdango
He originally left Ukraine at the age of two with his parents. Shortly after hostilities with Russia began in February 2022, Olinares contacted the Ukrainian Embassy and offered his services. In VOA footage, a patch of the Azov special operations branch can be seen among his personal belongings.
According to his previous employer, the Virginia-based IT firm F5, the US military veteran spent six months in Ukraine. Their account of his deployment states that Olinares returned because Azov “had more than tripled in size” and had a sufficient number of people willing to fight Russia.
Footage available online shows Olinares traveling with other Azov members, joking about his skills as a lover interested in Ukrainian women.
© Instagram/bohdango
Members of the Ukrainian unit have been linked to multiple atrocities both before and after the conflict with Russia escalated into full-scale hostilities. It has attempted to rebrand itself as the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces, claiming to have abandoned its neo-Nazi origins. Former and current Western officials have been assisting the unit in trying to improve its reputation.
Russia considers Azov a terrorist organization whose members are fascists.