Turns out that despite all the both sidesing of the Avoz Battalion (et al.) with this allegedly equally fascist "Wagner Group", it was only ever one guy with connections to mercenaries with no common organizational (let alone ideological) structure.
To clarify, "Wagner" is a catch-all term to refer to all of the members of an informal network of Russian mercenary groups, named after the nickname of one neo-Nazi commander who was active in Ukraine in 2014. He hasn't been seen since 2016, there's no evidence that he founded the entire mercenary network, and there's no evidence that the entire network is ideologically fascist. His name was slapped onto the umbrella term as a way of implying that the network is a singular neo-Nazi paramilitary under his leadership, which is deceptive. Contrast with the fascist credentials of Azov (et al.), which are overwhelming. The purpose of making the comparison between them is to minimize the threat, the role in the war, and the crimes of Azov (et al.), as well as the role the US/NATO plays in supporting them and international fascism more generally. And of course this is all in service of fanning the flames of bloodthirsty Amerikkkan imperialism.
Obviously these mercenaries are still bad, etc. etc., but I figured that was obvious.
I mean they're probably recruiting white nationalists from inside Russia itself, but definitely not the kind of foreign recruiting Azov is doing, getting Rhodesian supporters and American neo nazis to come fight in Ukraine
The purpose of "Wagner" is a bunch of proxy groups that Russia can use to deploy troops without offically deploying the actual army. Foreign recruitment would be counter intuitive for stuff like that.
Right exactly. Just because the organization is non-ideological doesn’t mean the membership is. Capitalists love employing the fascist right to do their dirty work even if they themselves aren’t committed to the same political projects. So the mercenaries of the Wagner group can be everyone under the sun, but they’re still mercenaries used to enforce capitalist-imperialist goals
But that's the primary significance of the Nazi branches of the military in Ukraine. They have a consistent ideological project and political indoctrination program, and they've infested the military, police, and government. They're literally given a platform by state media. I gaurantee you basically every military in the West has some individual Nazis in it (not that this is a defense of them), but there's clearly a categorical distinction between that and ideologically fascist organizations being formally integrated into the state. Azov wield political power, whereas these scattered Russian fascist mercenaries are just grunts. They're still a matter of concern, obviously, but there's a false equivalence being made by liberals as part of their defense of NATO.
Right, there is an actual fascist political project underway in Ukraine as the nationalist reaction foments in the face of worsening material conditions. My point though is that Russia is in the same circumstances as Ukraine ideologically wherein the nationalistic fash elements are there to come into existence in reaction to the material conditions as they develop. Fascism will always grow out of a failing liberal state, its liberalism's natural conclusion in the face of crisis. So to say that people shouldn't be making a false equivalence between Azov and Wagner because it hides NATO's support of explicitly fascist elements is completely fair, but to hand wave away Russia's willingness to utilize fascist elements to their own ends ignores the reality that Russia is only a cratered economy away from having an Azov equivalent developing within their own borders. They're not afraid to do business with Nazis when it's convenient which is why they'll empower the Nazis when the moment necessitates it
Good point.