I mean, we’re kind of back to where we were at the beginning, which is that multiple Azov fighters including the commander have said openly that he never fought for them. And that at most, the evidence that he was a neo-Nazi or sympathizer is that he took some photos with Azov gear and not criticizing them enough when he was still a journalism student and 20 years old. And oh, lots of the worst photos are disinformation anyway.
And while we’re on nuance, it’s good to remember the context— which is that the Ukrainian military had to throw hastily assembled volunteer brigades, including Azov, into a war they did not start because that’s the only force they could put into the field. And that Azov has been pulled off the front-lines and replaced by regular military. It’s also really rich that the Kremlin crows about Ukrainian fascists while there is only one state power in the region that recruits, funds and supports neo-Nazis and far right groups actively outside of its border as an element of its foreign policy and that is Russia.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/08/russia-is-co-opting-angry-young-men/568741/
And of course, there’s the inconvenient fact that Russia and their puppet rebels have deployed a all-star lineup of human rights violating irregular forces and mercenaries in Donbas from Vostok to Kadyrovtsy to the Wagner Group to Russian ultranationalists to Serb volunteers that feel they missed out on doing war crimes back in the 1990s. It is almost impossible to find an element of the insurgent fighting force that IS NOT ultranationalist, new-fascist, or war criminals. The entire insurgent power structure and behavior is and been basically a single ongoing war crime and human rights violation.
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/Ukraine_13th_HRMMU_Report_3March2016.pdf
Its kind of both-sides- ism at its most blatant, to pick the worst example from one side (the side that didn’t start the conflict and that is at least making an EFFORT to normalize the situation and implement reforms) and treat it as even remotely equivalent to the side that started a war, that unapologetically and openly commits war crimes and international law violations as its official policy, and in the insurgents case— whose actual existence is a violation of any norms or law.
And that’s kind of how Kremlin disinformation campaigns work— to overwhelm the information space with a mix of lies, misinterpreted truths, cries of outrage that might be legitimate but are completely one sided, and endless rabbit trails through the undergrowth. They will never convince most people to support them, but the goal is to foster enough disillusion and synapse fatigue that people just say “well, both sides are terrible so let’s just let them sort it out.” And of course, thats how the bigger, stronger power wins.