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.
Are they actually? Is there even any evidence for that?
No, it is very much used to whitewash NATO, encourage intervention in the war, and encourage volunteers to sign up to fight side-by-side with Azov. It's used to diminish the role US imperialism played in this war by diminishing the effects of the US-backed Euromaidan coup. It's used to diminish the racist violence the empowered Ukrainian fascists are directing against nonwhite immigrants and residents, and against the Russian-speaking population. It's used to draw attention away from the far-right connections of Western governments and politicians.
It's quintessential liberal both-sidesing.
here, on a leftist forum we need to understand principled antifascism vs. opportunist posturing. if they're whinging about wagner on msnbc or something i could see where you're coming from but i got the sense you were complaining about people here :vivian-shrug:
No, I'm complaining about the people everywhere else on the internet who reflexively bring up Wagner whenever anyone mentions Azov. This place is a refuge.