>And by the way, what other country made a neo-Nazi brigade a part of its army?
Literally all of them, including Russia of course(which has multiple).
Literally all of them, including Russia of course(which has multiple).
You can possibly claim that it is PMC rather than direct Russian military, but then there is the recent ultimatum given to Wagner troops -- Join Russian military ranks or leave.
Was it all you had?
lol, I'm done.
Edit: Looked through comment history and it makes sense now.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30731180
You're a joke, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Well, this sure looks like an evidence of Wagner's commander having a neo-Nazi tattoo [0][1]. Besides Utkin's personality there doesn't seem to be anything else.
I wanted to verify sources a bit further myself, but alas: https://i.imgur.com/YxG58lR.png
To be fair, it is silly to even separate them as they're all fighting hand in hand with regular Russian army with Russian army supplies, so for all intents and purposes they were both part of it.
But seeing as the person I was responding to is touting about "powerful Russian military" and "weak Europe" from the comforts of the western middle class, I don't really want to engage in discussion any further.
"so for all intents and purposes they were both part of it"
Not really. Rusich is a dirty secret just like Utkin's personality. They are not legitimized in any way. Azov with the Wolfsangel on their banner and Aidar are openly ultra-nationalist and touted by Kyev as heroes.
Russia and Russian Military have a long and proven track record of lying without any shame or remorse, so I don't really care what the "official" standing of these units is. They are fed by Russia, armed by Russia and controlled by Russia, everything else is "Пыль в глаза".
Without downplaying the troubling beginnings of Azov (who aren't the worst offenders by a mile if you look at 2014-2015, to be honest) -- it has little bearing in 2023.
Ukrainian army went a long way cleaning up their ranks and becoming a professional army since then, they had trials and punished their own soldiers for committing crimes in ATO, which Russian side not only did not do, but encouraged.
The World is holding Ukraine to an impossible standard right now, magnifying every individual case and person to paint the whole country in bad light while turning the blind eye to one to Russian atrocities (See HRW about Cluster munitions for Ukraine vs silence on Russia using all sorts of forbidden weaponry).
Zelensky let them all out when the war started[0], including the infamous Tornado battalion[1][2].
"have a long and proven track record of lying without any shame or remorse"
Just like the Ukraine or the US.
"which Russian side ... encouraged"
Another fine example of 'atrocity propaganda'[3] to mobilize public support in Western countries for the Ukrainian war.
"vs silence on Russia using all sorts of forbidden weaponry"
So why is the silence? That happens when things get investigated and no proof is found. I remember Ukrainian general claiming in 2014 that Russia used a tactical nuke in Donbass.
[0] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10559879/Zelensky-r...
[1] https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-tornado-battalion-rogue-para...
[2] https://focus-ua.translate.goog/uk/amp/ukraine/521825-osuzhd...
Seems like you're more then happy about Russian nazis but looking to very much focus on the other side.
> Another fine example of 'atrocity propaganda'[3] to mobilize public support in Western countries for the Ukrainian war.
There doesn't need to be propaganda when you are up against the monsters that rolled through Grozny and Aleppo.
The Russians are every bit the monsters that most people think they are.
> Just like the Ukraine or the US.
But the Russians lie a lot more. They have pretty much not stopped lying since this "we are not going to invade" war started and even just before it.
Typical Vatnik when they have no way to counter an argument, remember the Internet Research Agency says attack the person not the content.
The audacity to compare Ukraine, which has incredible level of transparency during this invasion in every aspect, welcoming auditors and investigators from all over the world to Russia is very telling of your biases.
I am Russian, I am well aware of nuances, but to even begin to compare the two is insanity in 2023.