Use of NATO arms for attack in Russia raises doubts about Kyiv’s controls
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Kapustin_(militant)
Known for, among other things, the martial arts events festival (whose political bent one can guess from the name) he helped organized as late as 2018:
Churchill - If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.
To the extent that there is any - it's that it's awfully negligent (on the part of Brussels), and stupid (of Kyiv) to be handing the enemy such a picture-perfect propaganda play. In fact, just about the shrillest of optics and meme fodder that Putin's sycophants could ever wish for, in their wettest and wildest of dreams:
"Actual Nazis, with NATO weapons, crossing into the Motherland!"
The thing is, this exactly the logic that moved so many people in so many European countries (including, very close to the front of the pack, Ukraine itself) to seek either full or partial alliance with the German occupiers in the first place, back during that other conflict (which supposedly never really ended, according to what Putin is desperately trying to tell the world).
That, and again, the shitty optics and (unfortunately quite) tangible propaganda benefit for the other side.
Look, it's objectively stupid and inflammatory, in any conflict, to not just send people over the border to do whatever business you want them to do -- but to send people with either (1) highly questionable ties (2) doing stupid provocative shit, and (3) at the same time when you're attempting to claim plausible deniability - using the wrong weapons.
Examples abound in recent and less-recent history. And it doesn't matter how small they are in terms of headcount. The bottom line is that it (at best) works against your stated goals, and at worst - can counteract these goals entirely.
Besides, the Russian occupation forces are doing a far more realistic and faithful impression of the SD / Waffen SS themselves with all the mass graves, torture and forced disappearances.
Damn right they are. But rather then do something to stop that - these tactics simply enable them to brainwash their own public further, and convince them of the "regrettable necessity" of the special operation which they ... keep insisting they were forced to undertake.
I gotcha.
A lot of things shifted in the last year and it's clear now that Ukraine is using a wide range of options available to it- walking out progressively more aggressive responses, basically to test the russians and make the russian soldiers and leadership less confident in their approach. I imagine that they carefully watch the world's response to their actions, and adjust as necessary.
Those responses include tacitly supporting guerillas. Will the upcoming counteroffensive lead to Ukrainian troops entering the traditionally borders of Russia (not just occupied lands)? It seems unlikely. Will we continue to see guerilla action on the borders and possibly closer to home (Moscow)? It seems very likely.
Also, if the ukranians send nazi russians to russia to kill russians to stop the war, and the nazis get killed, that's a win for everybody, right?
Aside from the fact that they most likely won't (get killed) -- no, it's still not a win, or is it ever a win - to knowingly collaborate with committed Nazis for any tactical end, at any time.
Trite as it may sound to some here.
I suggest you watch this BBC report[0] on torch march in Kiev on Jan 2 2014 when Crimea was still Ukrainian.
You don't have to like people for them to be useful too you.
Like how Russias main PMC is run by a Nazi, but it doesn't make all Russians Nazi's does it?.
My point is that Nazis in the Ukraine isn't a new thing and you can't justify their position in the Ukrainian society by the ongoing war. They freely marched with torches on the streets of Kiev before anything happened.
"theres similar marches in Russia too"
Not really, Russian ultra-nationalists are suppressed under Putin, some of their leaders are in jail and their organizations are designated as extremist. There were so called Russian Marches, but no more.
"does that make all of them Nazis"
Yeah, people marching on the streets with torches and shouting nationalistic and supremacist slogans are nazis, be it in Russia or Ukraine. Doubly so if they carry the portraits of Nazi collaborators and perpetrators of genocide. Slogans 'Ukraine above all' don't help either.
My brother in christ, the head of the main PMC in Russia has Nazi symbols tattooed on him and named his PMC after Hitlers favourite composer.
Nazis aren't suppressed under Putin, they are actively hired by the government.