It's a repeat of the US/UK's previous galaxy brained scheme of saving the world from Nazis- first they fund and arm the Nazis in the hopes they'll destroy the Soviets/Russians, and then after the Nazis turn out predictably rabid, they'll pat themselves on the back for helping (or in this case, not helping) to get rid of them while Russia does all the real work. And same as last time, the Anglos will probably funnel all those nasty little Nazis to Argentina or Canada, and to cushy jobs in NATO once again when this is all over, too..
"godsend for Russian propagandists" this is such a wierd thing to focus that I don't know how to criticise it properly. Just don't write puff pieces on neo-Nazis if you are concerned about that.
That's right, the fact that there are literal fascists running around isn't the problem, the real issue is that it's validating what Russia has been saying. 🙃
Kyrylo Budanov is mentioned as the head of Ukr intelligence org (HUR). His wiki page mentions that he was fighting in Donbas in 2014, and that he was trained by the CIA.
In 2014, he took part in the war in Donbas, where he was wounded several times and reportedly participated in a number of classified special military operations.
According to The New York Times, Budanov was brought to the United States for treatment at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being wounded in fighting in the Donbas.
Budanov was one of the members of the elite Unit 2245 of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate trained by CIA.
“Will you try to remain unbiased?” he asks. “It is a very funny position for you and your colleagues because you all have been trying hard to put us in a bad light for years. Neo-Nazis, racist, white supremacists, terrible guys, blah, blah, blah. And then the darkest hour in Ukraine’s modern day history arrives. And all of a sudden the eternal bad guys turn out to be brave, courageous, determined, stubborn and heroes. And they’re like, ‘damn, how should I write about them?’”
Kapustin thoroughly savors his notoriety. “Throughout my life, I always wanted to be the Hollywood-style bad guy. Darth Vader is my ultimate inspiration. At the age of seven, I watched Star Wars, and was like, ‘wow this guy’s so cool,’” he says.
Literal anime villain monologue.
“We are now definitely a sizable force, possessing our own arms and vehicles, possessing our own mortars, heavy machine guns and artillery. RVC is not anymore a gang. It is a regiment. We have bases. We have our recruitment system,” Kapustin says.
Make sure to vote for Joe Biden guys! I mean sure, he and his ilk have spent their entire careers helping build up Facist/Nazi death machines around the world, but surely, he will stop fascism in America. Right?
I love the Freedom of Russia Legion saga. Their cross-border raids are some of the most pathetic footage out of the war, all to hold their WoW guild flag in front of some random house. All the while they post the cringiest propaganda for seemingly no audience. They had as much influence on the Russian elections as my dog and he fucking tried.
As a Russian militant who led eye-catching paramilitary raids into Russia from Ukrainian territory this year and last, Kyiv sees Kapustin has a role to play as an ally against President Vladimir Putin.
German authorities say Kapustin — sometimes known as Denis Nikitin — is “one of the most influential neo-Nazi activists” on the European continent, and that’s a godsend to Russian propagandists, who are seeking to whitewash their murderous invasion of Ukraine as an attempt to “de-Nazify” Kyiv.
That’s despite the fact he runs a far-right apparel line of T-shirts and caps emblazoned with white nationalist and xenophobic imagery as well as the Nazi symbol 88 — the eighth letter of the alphabet twice being a not-so-subtle code for “Heil Hitler.”
Including the notorious Rusich militia, which happily displays Nazi flashes, advocates racist ideology and has been accused of battlefield atrocities in Ukraine and Syria, and the white supremacist Russian Imperial Movement, designated a “terrorist organization” by the United States.
In 2022, Germany’s BND intelligence service said the Russian military has welcomed neo-Nazi groups in its ranks, rendering “the alleged reason for the war, the so-called de-Nazification of Ukraine, absurd.”
Kapustin’s RVC and two other Ukraine-based anti-Putin paramilitary groups — Freedom of Russia Legion and the newest formation, the Siberian Battalion — are in the news again after launching on March 12 their biggest cross-border raids of the war around Kursk and Belgorod, remaining on Russian soil and fighting for more than two weeks.
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Compares himself to Clint Eastwood and Darth Vader, then later admits he can't explain his political views. This is what happens when you don't read books (Harry Potter doesn't count).