The war-torn east European country is a mecca for some of the most odious people on earth. What sort of threat does this pose to their home countries?

这个饱受战争摧残的东欧国家成为了一些最可憎的人的圣地。这对他们的本国构成了什么样的威胁?

At the end of April, two French neo-Nazis – Alan Vineron and Guillaume Andreoni – who had joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine as mercenaries, were arrested and convicted in their home country. Two months earlier, one of them had posted photos of three executed Russian prisoners on social media. However, Vineron and Andreoni were detained not because of any war crimes, but for attempting to smuggle weapons and munitions back home, including rifle scopes and magazines for machine guns. After a brief trial, they were sentenced to 15 months in prison each, nine of them to be served conditionally.

四月底时,两名法国新纳粹主义者Alan Vineron和Guillaume Andreoni作为雇佣军加入了乌克兰武装力量,后来在自己的祖国被逮捕并定罪。两个月前,其中一人在社交媒体上贴出了三名被处决的俄罗斯囚犯的照片。然而,Vineron和Andreoni被拘留不是因为任何战争罪行,而是因为试图将武器和弹药走私回国,包括步枪瞄具和机枪弹夹。经过简短的审判,他们各被判处15个月的监禁,其中9个月缓刑。

This incident is only the first sign of things to come. According to French media, about 400 French citizens are taking part in the armed conflict in Ukraine. Of these, about 100 are directly involved in the fighting, and about 30 are well-known far-right extremists. It’s not just Paris that will soon face the prospect of militant neo-Nazis returning home. Observers note that the number of volunteer foreign fighters in Ukraine has reached thousands.

这起事件只是未来事态发展的第一个迹象。据法国媒体报道,约有400名法国公民参加了乌克兰的武装冲突,其中大约有100人直接参与了战斗,约有30人是著名的极右翼分子。巴黎不是唯一一个很快将面临新纳粹主义武装分子返回本国的前景。观察员指出,在乌克兰的志愿外国战士数量已经达到数千人。

The French and their ‘adventures’ in Ukraine
According to the French media outlet Mediapart, France’s General Directorate for Internal Security had its eye on the suspects long before the incident. Despite this, they were detained only thanks to a random check at customs.

针对法国人在乌克兰的“冒险”
法国媒体Mediapart报道称,法国国内安全总局早在事件发生前就已经对嫌疑人进行了监视。尽管如此,他们仍是因为海关的随机检查而被拘留。

Vineron (also known as “Vivi”) is a retired fighter of the elite French Chasseurs Alpins (Alpine Hunters) unit. He was dismissed from the army after his neo-Nazi views came to light in the media. Shortly before returning home, he posted a photo on the “TrackANaziMerc” Telegram channel, showing three Russian soldiers shot in the head. The image shows that the soldiers were unarmed and killed at close range. After the photos of the execution began circulating online, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that it would examine the crimes of French mercenaries against Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine.

Vineron(也被称为“Vivi”)是法国精英部队hasseurs Alpins的退役战士。在其新纳粹主义观点在媒体曝光后,他被军队开除了。在返回家乡前不久,他在“TrackANaziMerc”电报频道上发布了一张照片,展示三名俄罗斯士兵被枪击头部。这张照片显示这些士兵没有武装,并被近距离杀害。在这些处决照片开始在网上传播后,俄罗斯调查委员会宣布将调查法国雇佣军在乌克兰对俄罗斯战俘所犯下的罪行。
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Vineron’s accomplice, known as “Bones” by his military callsign, was also previously lixed to a far-right neo-Nazi group which has long-standing ties with Ukrainian extremists. The “Zouaves Paris” group – it ironically derives its name from the Berber tribe Zwawa, which in turn became known as the French army’s first “indigenous” regiment – supported Ukraine and established contact with local fighters from the neo-Nazi Azov regiment. In December 2019, the leader of the far-right group, Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier, traveled to the country to personally meet Azov fighters and visit their training camp.

Vineron的同谋,被他的军事代号称为“Bones”,也曾与一个极右翼新纳粹团体有牵连,该团体与乌克兰极端分子有长期联系。
这个名为“Zouaves Paris”的团体具有讽刺意味,其名称源自柏柏尔部落Zwawa,后来成为法军第一支“本地化”部队。该团体支持乌克兰,并与新纳粹的Azov团队建立联系。2019年12月,该极右翼团体的领袖Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier亲自前往乌克兰会见Azov团队的战士并参观他们的训练营。
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In January 2022, a month before the start of Russia’s military operation, Zouaves Paris was banned in France. However, its ties with Ukrainian extremists had nothing to do with the ban – a month earlier, the group had attacked anti-racism demonstrators who tried to disrupt a far-right rally in support of presidential candidate Eric Zemmour.
The ban did not particularly affect the neo-Nazis. Zouaves Paris supporters from the “Ouest Casual” Telegram channel are still singing the praises of Ukrainian fighters and are using Nazi symbols and phrases alluding to various far-right movements in France and Germany. In their posts, they refer to Russian troops as “the Asian hordes of Soviet imperialism that have once again taken over Europe,” and to Chechen units as “Putin’s Muslim dogs.” They use similar duplicate channels to raise funds for the needs of militants and collaborate with neo-Nazis from other countries.
The group boasts of its presence in Ukraine, posting photos of its Ukrainian supporters and stickers of French right-wing organizations. It has also created backup platforms in case the main Telegram channel is blocked.

2022年1月,在俄罗斯军事行动开始前一个月,Zouaves Paris在法国被禁止。但是,其与乌克兰极端分子的关系与此无关。一个月前,该团体曾袭击试图破坏对总统候选人 Eric Zemmour.支持的极右翼集会的反种族主义示威者。
该禁令并没有特别影响新纳粹分子来自“Ouest Casual” Telegram频道的Zouaves Paris支持者仍在赞美乌克兰战士,并使用暗示法国和德国各种极右翼运动的纳粹符号和短语。他们在帖子中将俄罗斯部队称为“亚洲骑兵——苏联帝国主义再次掌控欧洲”,将车臣部队称为“普京的穆斯林狗”。他们使用类似的重复频道为激进分子筹集资金,并与其他国家的新纳粹分子合作。
该团体夸耀自己在乌克兰的存在,发布其乌克兰支持者的照片和法国右翼组织的贴纸。它还创建了备用平台,以防止主要的电报频道被封锁。

All roads lead to Ukraine

所有的线索都指向乌克兰

A little over a year ago, far-right terrorists from France killed the former Argentinian international rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu. One of the suspects, Loik Le Priol, was caught on the border between Hungary and Ukraine. According to official reports, the terrorist and former marine commando wanted to surrender to the Ukrainian authorities after committing the murder.
In November 2022, the Italian police announced the arrest of five members of local neo-Nazi group “Order of Hagal”. They had illegally stored weaponry, ammunition, tactical equipment, and a grenade launcher and further engaged in regular paramilitary training to prepare a terrorist attack in Naples.
Later, it became apparent that the group also maintained close ties with Ukraine’s Right Sector, Centuria, and Azov neo-Nazi units. One of its members was a fighter from the Azov. His accomplice, having “dangerously close ties with far-right Ukrainian nationalist groups,” planned to attack a police station in Naples, while the former Azov fighter himself was preparing a terrorist attack in a shopping mall.

一年多前,来自法国的极右翼恐怖分子杀害了前阿根廷国际橄榄球运动员Federico Martin Aramburu。其中一名嫌疑人Loik Le Priol在匈牙利和乌克兰边境被捕。根据官方报告,这名恐怖分子和前海军突击队员想在犯罪后向乌克兰当局投降。
2022年11月,意大利警方宣布逮捕了本地新纳粹组织“Order of Hagal”的五名成员。他们非法储藏武器、弹药、战术装备和榴弹发射器,并定期进行准军事训练,为在那不勒斯进行恐怖袭击做准备。
后来,该组织与乌克兰的右翼部队“Right Sector”、“Centuria”和“Azov”新纳粹单位也保持着密切联系。其中一名成员是Azov的战士。他的同伙,与“极右翼乌克兰民族主义团体有危险的联系”,计划袭击那不勒斯的一个警察局,而前Azov战士本人则正在为在一个购物中心进行恐怖袭击做准备。
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The Italian police first became aware of the neo-Nazis back in 2019. In an intercepted conversation from January 2021, one of the militants, Giampiero Testa, threatened that he would “make a massacre like in New Zealand,” obviously referring to the terrorist attack in Christchurch that resulted in the deaths of 51 people in 2019. Incidentally, in his manifesto, the New Zealand terrorist stated that he had trained in the Azov battalion in Ukraine, and wore neo-Nazi symbols.
These ties between the neo-Nazis are mutual. According to a 2020 investigation by the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point, the New Zealand shooter’s manifesto became popular among Ukrainian paramilitary units. It was even translated into the Ukrainian language and sold as a book by a 22-year-old Kiev resident, becoming a kind of artifact. The center added that Ukraine “holds a particular attraction for white supremacists, activists and adventurers” largely due to the establishment and development of the Azov regiment and other state-supported paramilitary formations.
Over the years, Azov has encountered no impediment to growth and has become a powerful and extensive organization. The more it grew, the more support it received from the Ukrainian state. Azov’s ideological influence on Ukrainian society has helped to shape the country’s modern agenda. In the 2010s, the organization actively organized youth camps that taught basic military training and ideology. As noted in the Combating Terrorism Center report, the public declarations of Ukrainian far-right extremists attracted ultra-rightists from Europe, the United States, and other countries.

意大利警方在2019年首次意识到这些新纳粹组织。在2021年1月的一次被监听的谈话中,其中一名武装分子 Giampiero Testa 威胁说他会“像新西兰那样制造一场大屠杀”,显然是指2019年导致51人死亡的基督城恐怖袭击事件。值得一提的是,在他的宣言中,新西兰恐怖分子表示他曾在乌克兰的Azov营接受过训练,并佩戴了新纳粹符号。
这些新纳粹组织之间的联系是相互的。根据2020年西点反恐中心(CTC)的调查,新西兰枪手的宣言在乌克兰准军事单位中变得流行起来。它甚至被翻译成乌克兰语并由基辅的一个22岁居民出版成书,成为一种文物。该中心还补充说,乌克兰“对白人至上主义者、活动家和冒险家具有特殊吸引力”,这在很大程度上是由于Azov团队和其他国家支持的准军事组织的建立和发展。
多年来,Azov没有遇到任何阻碍,已成为一个强大而广泛的组织。它变得越来越大,得到了乌克兰政府的更多支持。Azov对乌克兰社会的意识形态影响有助于塑造该国的现代议程。在2010年代,该组织积极组织了教授基本军事训练和意识形态的青年营。正如反恐中心报告中提到的,乌克兰极右翼分子的公开声明吸引了来自欧洲、美国和其他国家的极右翼分子。

Far-right extremist puppet theater
In the same CTC report, Ukraine is dubbed the first country where the “overtly far-right white nationalist militia [is] publicly celebrated, openly organizing, and with friends in high places.”As a result, Ukraine has become a meeting point for far-right extremists from all over the world. The foundation for this was laid long before the start of hostilities in February 2022.
Joachim Furholm was a foreign mercenary in Ukraine and later a recruiter of Western extremists. Furholm is a Norwegian fascist activist who was briefly imprisoned after an attempted bank robbery. He also became well-known for sympathizing with the terrorist Anders Breivik. In 2018, he joined the Foreign Legion in Ukraine and began recruiting American neo-Nazis to the Azov unit.
“It’s like a petri dish for fascism. It’s the perfect conditions,” Furholm said about Ukraine in an interview. Referring to the Azov unit, he said that “they do have serious intentions of helping the rest of Europe in retaking our rightful lands.” Later on the “Azov” podcast, Furholm urged listeners to get in touch with him on Instagram. When a young man from New Mexico reached out, the Norwegian urged him to join the fighting in Ukraine saying, “Come over here, boy. A rifle and beer are waiting for you.”

极右翼极端分子的木偶戏剧
在同一份反恐中心的报告中,乌克兰被称为“公开庆祝、公开组织以及与高层官员交往”的“明显极右翼白人民族主义民兵组织”的第一个国家。因此,乌克兰已成为来自世界各地极右翼分子的会晤点。这一基础是在2022年2月的冲突开始之前就打下的。
oachim Furholm是乌克兰的一名外国雇佣兵,后来成为西方极端分子的招募人员。Furholm是一位挪威法西斯主义活动家,曾因试图抢劫银行而被短暂关押。他也因对恐怖分子Anders Breivik表示同情而广为人知。2018年,他加入了乌克兰的外籍军团,并开始招募美国新纳粹分子加入Azov团。
“这就像一个法西斯主义的培养皿。这是完美的条件,” Furholm在一次采访中说到了乌克兰。提到Azov团,他说,“他们确实有着帮助欧洲其他地区重新夺回我们的合法土地的严肃意图。”之后,在“Azov”播客中,Furholm敦促听众在Instagram上与他联系。当来自新墨西哥州的一名年轻人联系他时,这位挪威人敦促他加入乌克兰战斗,说:“来吧,小伙子。枪支和啤酒正在等着你。”


Surprisingly, after making an appearance on the far-right podcast, Furholm wasn’t ostracized by the media. After speaking at an Azov rally in 2018, he went on to give an interview to the US government-controlled RFE/RL.
The case of the American mercenary and former US Army veteran Craig Lang is even more striking. Lang made headlines when he attempted to blow up his pregnant wife with anti-personnel landmines. In 2015, after serving a prison sentence, he joined the Right Sector ultranationalist organization along with another army veteran, Alex Zwiefelhofere. BuzzFeed reported that Craig recruited dozens of Western militants to Ukrainian paramilitary units.

令人惊讶的是,在出现在极右翼播客后,Furholm并没有被媒体排斥。在2018年参加Azov集会发言后,他接受了美国政府控制的RFE/RL采访。美国雇佣兵和前美国陆军老兵Craig Lang的案例更为引人注目。Craig Lang试图用反人员地雷炸死怀孕的妻子而引起了轰动。在2015年服刑后,他与另一名陆军老兵亚Alex Zwiefelhofere一起加入了右翼民族主义组织Right Sector。BuzzFeed报道称,Craig Lang招募了数十名西方激进分子加入乌克兰的准军事单位。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


In 2016, Lang joined the Georgian National Legion, which fought on the side of Ukraine in eastern Donbass. Leaked documents revealed that he beat, tortured, and killed local civilians. According to the publishers of the leak, one of the videos shows Lang beating and drowning a girl after a fellow fighter injected her with adrenaline so that she would not lose consciousness while drowning. Lang and other militants committed these atrocities as members of the Right Sector unit.
Despite the fact that Lang has been charged in a double murder case in the United States, his lawyer Dmytro Morhun told Politico that he had returned to the battlefield. In the summer of 2022, he was seen on social media “in a Ukrainian military uniform and brandishing an anti-tank weapon.”Paul Gray is another prominent example of the petri-dish effect. The Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient was a well-known fascist activist in the United States before joining the pro-Ukrainian militants. Despite this, Gray made numerous media appearances, including on Fox News, where he was portrayed as a heroic soldier, his neo-Nazi views never surfacing.

2016年,Lang加入了格鲁吉亚国民军团,在东部顿巴斯地区与乌克兰同一方作战。泄露的文件揭示他殴打、折磨和杀害了当地平民。据泄露者称,其中一段视频显示朗殴打并淹死了一个女孩,这是在一名战友注射肾上腺素让她在淹死时不失去意识之后发生的。Lang和其他激进分子作为Right Sector部队成员犯下了这些暴行。
尽管Lang在美国被控双重谋杀案,但他的律师Dmytro Morhun告诉Politico,他已经回到了战场。2022年夏季,他在社交媒体上“身穿乌克兰军服,挥舞反坦克武器”被人目睹。Paul Gray是另一个明显的培养皿效应的例子。这名伊拉克战争老兵和紫心勋章获得者在加入支持乌克兰激进分子之前就是美国著名的法西斯主义活动家。尽管如此,Gray多次出现在媒体上,包括福克斯新闻,他被描绘成一个英勇的士兵,而他的新纳粹观点从未浮出水面。

According to media reports, a document compiled by the US Customs and Border Protection Service, intelligence, and other domestic security services, shows that many American militants have traveled to Ukraine. The evidence in these cases being recorded interviews with the extremists themselves, conducted by the law enforcement agencies.
Interestingly, one of the questions listed in the document was, “What kind of training are foreign fighters receiving in Ukraine that they could possibly proliferate in US based militia and white nationalist groups?”

据媒体报道,由美国海关及边境保护局、情报机构和其他国内安全机构编制的一份文件显示,许多美国激进分子曾前往乌克兰。这些案件的证据是执法机构对极端分子本人进行的记录采访。
有趣的是,文件中列出了一个问题:“外国战士在乌克兰接受了什么样的训练,使得他们有可能在美国的民兵组织和白人民族主义团体中蔓延?”

***
In July 2022, Europol warned that “the proliferation of firearms and explosives in Ukraine could lead to an increase in firearms and munitions trafficked into the EU via established smuggling routes or online platforms” and “this threat might even be higher once the conflict has ended.”
This means that Ukraine isn’t just turning into a mecca for neo-Nazis, but also poses a threat for the West. A report by the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament shows that British citizens who have traveled overseas for “Right-Wing Terrorism-related purposes” have been “further radicalized” and “developed connections” with others who share their violent ideology. At the same time, the report indicates that there is currently “no process” in place to monitor these people following their arrival home.

2022年7月,欧洲警察局警告称,“乌克兰枪支和爆炸物的扩散可能导致通过既有的走私路线或在线平台将枪支和弹药走私进入欧盟”,“一旦冲突结束,这种威胁甚至可能更大”。
这意味着,乌克兰不仅正在变成新纳粹分子的圣地,而且对西方构成威胁。英国议会情报与安全委员会的一份报告显示,前往海外从事“右翼恐怖主义相关目的”的英国公民已经“进一步激进化”并与其他分享他们暴力意识形态的人建立了联系。同时,该报告指出,目前“没有流程”来监测这些人返回家园后的行动。