PerspectiveRussia “Adding Violent Energy” to White Supremacy Around the Globe, U.S. Experts Claim
White supremacist terrorism around the globe is being manipulated by Russia for political ends, senior U.S. national security officials have warned. Such white supremacist groups are “emulating” jihadists like Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by forging a “transnational” community of followers, using social media and encrypted communications platforms, the experts said. Joshua Geltzer, former U.S. senior director of counter terrorism, said: “The Russian government adds violent energy to the emerging transnational network of white supremacists, spreading its cause in part through disinformation aggressively disseminated online.” Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told lawmakers that the “emerging epicenter” of white supremacist extremism is Russia and Ukraine. “There are extensive ties between the Russian government and far-right groups in Europe.”
White supremacist terrorism around the globe is being manipulated by Russia for political ends, senior U.S. national security officials have warned.
Nick Allen writes in The Telegraph that Joshua Geltzer, former U.S. senior director of counter terrorism, told lawmakers that the perpetrators of white supremacist violence should now be treated as international, rather than domestic, terrorists.
Such groups are “emulating” jihadists like Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by forging a “transnational” community of followers, using social media and encrypted communications platforms.
Designating white supremacist groups as foreign terrorist organizations would make it easier to prosecute those who provide material support to them, and to freeze financial accounts in the U.S.
In testimony to a Congressional committee Geltzer said: “This is not terrorism ‘domestic’ to any one nation alone. It is a global surge in violence inspired by white supremacy.
“There is one additional driver of today’s threat that must be emphasized - the active role of foreign government actors in propagating violent white supremacist ideology.”
Geltzer added: “The Russian government adds violent energy to the emerging transnational network of white supremacists, spreading its cause in part through disinformation aggressively disseminated online.”
Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told the congressional committee: The “emerging epicenter” of white supremacist extremism is Russia and Ukraine.
“There are extensive ties between the Russian government and far-right groups in Europe.”
He said Russian paramilitary groups in Ukraine were training foreign fighters “motivated by white supremacy and neo-Nazi beliefs.”
Soufan added: “Russian disinformation efforts have fueled anti-immigrant sentiment in countries like Sweden, fueling resentment among native-born Swedes.”
Currently, not one of the 68 entities designated as foreign terror organizations by the U.S. state department is a violent white supremacist group.
