that’s a godsend to Russian propagandists, who are seeking to whitewash their murderous invasion of Ukraine as an attempt to “de-Nazify” Kyiv.

Yeah maybe they should consider not having Nazis repping heil Hitler caps leading them. Purely for optics of course. If it didn’t look bad it would be totally fine right…

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Here is what I can find about this mysterious fellow. I was wondering why a Russian was helping Ukraine fight Russia and how a Russian became a Neo-Nazi. He is part of a group of Russians that do oppose Putin and part of a group based in Ukraine called “Russian Volunteer Corps.”

In 2001, when he was 17, Kapustin’s family moved to Cologne, Germany.[5] According to Der Spiegel, the Kapustin family received a permanent residence permit as Russian Jews. However, asked about her ethnic background and her alleged Jewish origins by the Spiegel journalists, Kapustin’s mother simply described herself as “a Russian woman”

During his time in Cologne, Kapustin was radicalised and became a well-known far-right figure who was associated with the far-right hooligan

His reach was limited in 2019 when Germany issued him a Schengen ban, or European-wide ban for “efforts against the liberal democratic constitution”.[8] This also applies to Switzerland.

via WIkipedia

If someone wanted to do an actual Nazi takeover of Ukraine, it would be this guy. Calling this guy a double edged sword is an understatement.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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.

The original article contains 1,947 words, the summary contains 245 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

So let me see if I have this straight: He’s a Russian Nazi who fights Russian Nazis…?