“Strives for Russian Empire”
Neo-Nazis networked with Russian imperial movement
03/28/2022, 09:21 am
Even after the beginning of the war of aggression, German right-wing extremists are in contact with the ultra-national Russian imperial movement. The group aims to expand Russia’s power – also by means of an armed struggle. The left faction demands quick action from the government.
According to the federal government, right-wing extremists in Germany have maintained contact with the Russian imperial movement, which is notorious for racist hate speech, even after the attack on Ukraine began. This movement “maintains contacts in the right-wing extremist scene in Germany, in the United States of America and also in other European countries,” according to a response from the federal government to a written question from the domestic policy spokeswoman for the left-wing faction, Martina Renner.
The federal government characterizes the movement, classified by the US State Department as a terrorist organization, as an “organization that strives for a Russian empire”. The imperial movement sees the armed struggle against the Ukrainian state as a legitimate means of achieving its goals, it said. It can be assumed that the paramilitary training courses offered by the movement in St. Petersburg “can have an attractive effect on individual members of the right-wing extremist spectrum,” the federal government continues.
Renner said: “The aim of the Russian imperial movement of forcibly creating a Russian empire must be taken particularly seriously against the background of the war of aggression against the Ukraine.” She demanded: “For internal security, it must be clarified quickly which German neo-Nazis took part in paramilitary training in Russia.”
According to media reports, militant right-wing extremists from Germany are said to have been trained for combat operations in Russia as early as 2020. The news magazine Focus wrote that several members of the NPD youth organization Young Nationalists, which is observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and the party “The Third Way” completed the paramilitary training in a special camp near St. Petersburg, citing security circles. The participants were trained in handling weapons and explosives as well as in military close combat. The Russian imperial movement is said to have been behind the camp.