The Nazi and NATO angles are just excuses for Putin to get a larger foothold on Crimea and the Black Sea.
Crimea is connected by land to Ukraine and not Russia, it is Ukrainian land that was given back to them by the USSR as it just makes sense, although there have been cultural problems in the region since the great famine in 1930 where the population lost was replenished with Russian people.
Due to it's position, Crimea depends on Ukraine for energy and water. Basically this war is for Russia to obtain the land connection with Crimea to secure the water source as it has been a problem when a damn was built upstream. They even built since 2014 a bridge to connect Crimea with Russia, but I guess inciting a war between the east and west Ukrainians is an easier way to solve their problems as they don't care about the collateral damages.
Note that I have politics filtered at VGC as I basically come here just for gaming news and miss most of the conversations going on here.
Essay Pro