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The Chinese media referenced the Azov in Hong Kong yesterday.
That's a nice rabbit hole to live in for a while. But it explains where Xi is right now, and that he's going to continue to allow Putin to do this - even as the invasion becomes more and more barbaric every day.
Apparently, members of Azov photographed themselves in Hong Kong during the protests a few years ago. I don't think there's any evidence they were there by invitation, or that they participated in any way. I could be wrong. They say it was "protest tourism," which actually makes some sense. There might even be a connection to Charlottesville in there, if you're interested in some high-level cunicular activity.
Much is made of Azov's official role as part of Ukraine's National Guard, involved in the battles in eastern Ukraine. It doesn't have all that much influence in Ukraine (the one political party that would support it gets all of 2% of the national vote), but it's there and there's no mistaking the imagery - this is a neo-Nazi group rather than a bunch of tattooed soccer fans.
Putin apparently thinks, or finds it convenient to connect, the genesis of Azov to the US-leaning group that overthrew the Russian-friendly government in the Maidan uprising of 2014. Putin refers to this quite negatively in his rambling essay from last year. He says the US sponsored this, which is possible. He invaded Crimea the next day and the new government was much more pro-US.
That Xi is completely on board and references the same group as Putin did... this isn't going away easily and it's not going away with more sanctions.
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