ExtremismGerman, Swedish, Finnish Neo-Nazis Receive Military Training at Russian Camps
Militant far-right extremists from Germany, Sweden, and Finland are receiving combat training in Russia. The training camps are run by the right-wing extremist Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), which, in April, was designated by the United States as a terrorist organization – the first white supremacist group to be so designated. Russia deployed the foreign nationals to Russian militias operating in eastern Ukraine. Sources in German intelligence said they were worried that when the Germans come home from their stint in Ukraine, they would add military know-how and experience to the rising tide of far-right terrorism in Germany.
Far-right extremists in Germany are participating in paramilitary training at a special camp near city of St. Petersburg in Russia, German magazine Focus reported Friday.
Members of the youth wing of two far-right German parties — the National Democratic Party (NPD) and the minor smaller The Third Way — have completed the training, the magazine cited German intelligence sources as saying.
The participants received military-level training in how to use weapons and explosives. They were also trained in close combat, urban warfare, and martial arts, the magazine said.
The German far-right youth were joined by nationals of similar ideological persuasion from Sweden and Finland. The German, Swedish, and Finnish participants have been deployed to eastern Ukraine, where Russian militias are helping pro-Russian groups who fight the Ukrainian government in order to gain autonomy, or even to be allowed to have the region annexed by Russia.
The “Partizan” camp is operated by followers of Russia’s right-wing extremist Russian Imperial Movement (RIM). German intelligence says RIM has two camps close to St. Petersburg.
RIM seeks to restore the Russian Empire. In April, The United States designated the ultranationalist RIM, along with three of its leaders, as terrorists, marking the first time the classification has been applied to a white supremacist group (see “U.S. Designates Russia-Based White Supremacist Group, Leaders as Terrorists,” HSNW, 7 April 2020). The Department of State, in explaining its decision to add RIM to the U.S. terrorist list, said that the group had “provided paramilitary-style training to white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Europe.”
The Kremlin protested the U.S. decision, saying that adding the group to the list did not help fight terrorism.
Moscow agreed with the United States that RIM is an ultra-right-wing Christian Orthodox extremist group, but disagreed with the United States that the group should be banned.
German intelligence sources told Focus that they were aware that extremists from Germany were attending the camps. German law, however, does not allow for prohibiting such travel because Germany has not yet designated RIM as a terrorist organization.
Sources in German intelligence said they were worried that when the Germans come home from their stint in Ukraine, they would add military know-how and experience to the rising tide of far-right terrorism in Germany.
