This blog entry is the first in a three-part series focusing on  foreign fighters from Italy fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine. This first entry describes a network of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist extremists in Italy who fought on the side of Russia in occupied Ukraine and recruited foreign fighters from Italy. The second part focuses on the Russian links of the right-wing extremist networks in Italy, and the political networks they associated with. Part III will analyse the wider European political and martial arts networks these fighters belonged to. These networks have also functioned as bases for Russian recruitment as well as centers for radicalization into violent extremism.

“Operation 88”

In 2013 a police investigation into pro-Nazi graffiti on a church in the Leguria region of northern Italy led to the identification of a skinhead cell which was recruiting individuals into its group and asking them to fight with pro-Russian mercenary brigades in eastern Ukraine. Based on intelligence provided by the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy, investigators in Genoa launched “Operation 88” and were able to identify sixteen suspects in a pro-Russian mercenary recruitment network based in northern Italy. Arrest warrants were issued for six suspects in July 2018 on charges of fighting illegally in a foreign conflict and recruiting mercenaries to fight. Three of the suspects were arrested and convicted while the other three remained at large in occupied Ukraine. The case not only provided details about a right-wing extremist, pro-Russian mercenary recruitment network in Europe, it also shed light on the domestic political groups and foreign intelligence networks which allegedly facilitated the mercenaries.

Recruiters and Fighters

A central figure in the Italian mercenary recruitment network was an Italian citizen named Andrea Palmeri (born in 1979) who had been the leader of the neo-fascist Ultras football gang “Bulldog Lucca 1998” until its dissolution in 2004. Palmeri engaged in escalating acts of violence against left-wing activists in Italy between 2004 and 2013 for which he accumulated a long list of criminal convictions for assault, alongside other offences including narcotics violations, resisting arrest, and criminal conspiracy. During this period, he also formed strong relationships with local right-wing politicians. Palmeri’s attacks on left-wing activists culminated in a violent assault against Stefano Benassi in March 2013 for which Palmeri was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. In February 2014 he fled with his wife and child to his wife’s home town in Russia. His wife and child returned to Italy, while Palmeri travelled to Donbas in August 2014 where he joined the “Batman" Rapid Response Group which included the neo-Nazi battalion “Rusich." At this point Palmeri became the primary liaison between right-wing extremist mercenary recruits in Italy and Russian commanders in Donbas.

Another Italian citizen, Antonio Cataldo (born 1984) was the administrator of Andrea Palmeri’s Facebook page and in this capacity served as the first point of contact for potential recruits in Italy. Whereas Andrea Palmeri’s background was as a local football hooligan leader, Cataldo and the other main recruiter in the network, Olsi Krutani, had extensive military backgrounds. Cataldo was a veteran of the French Foreign Legion who received military training in Russia and Kazakhstan in 2009. He fought as a mercenary in Libya in 2011 (where he was arrested, imprisoned, and subsequently switched sides), and he fought as a sniper in Donbas from 2014-2016.

The third main recruiter in the network, Olsi Krutani (born 1981), was an Albanian citizen and resident in Italy. Krutani claims to have been a member of the Russian Special Forces and had participated in Russian operations in Chechnya. He owned a gym in Milan and taught jujitsu and sambo workshops throughout Italy. Prosecutors asserted that his martial arts workshops were a front for the Russian ultra-nationalist, anti-Western political movement Essence of Time. Both he and Antonio Cataldo were arrested in late 2018, convicted the following year and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. After serving his sentence, Krutani went on to publish pro-Russian articles online. A post on Facebook in September 2024 identified him as the president of the Italian Hand-to-Hand Fighting Federation, a Russia-based martial arts organization whose website also lists Krutani as a master located in Italy.

Fighters

In addition to the three recruiters, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for three pro-Russian mercenaries, one of whom was arrested and sentenced while the other two remain at large.

Vladimir Verbitchii (born 1993) is a Moldovan citizen who immigrated with his family to Italy in 2008 and became a citizen. By his account he trained to be a paratrooper with members of the Italian Air Force and fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. He travelled to Donbas in May 2015 where he enlisted and fought with Rusich Group. He was arrested in Italy in 2018 and sentenced to 1 year and 4 months, which he served.

Gabriele Carugati (b. 1989) is an Italian citizen and the son of Silvana Marin, former local head of Lega Norte in Lombardy. He worked as a shopping mall security officer in Italy prior to his enlistment as a pro-Russian mercenary. He remains at large.

Massimiliano Cavalleri (b. 1984) is an Italian citizen who claimed in interviews to have fought at a battle at Donetsk Airport. He appears in multiple interviews and remains at large, allegedly somewhere within the occupied areas of Ukraine.

Returning Foreign Fighters and Arms Trafficking

In 2019 while investigating Italian right-wing extremists who had returned to Italy after fighting in Donbas, police conducted a series of raids where they discovered larger stockpiles of weapons than ever before in such raids in Italy. They also found a sizeable collection of Nazi and neo-fascist paraphernalia. The weapons stockpile included assault rifles, hunting weapons, a machine gun, 20 bayonets, and over 800 rounds of ammunition, as well as a Matra Super 530 F air-to-air missile manufactured in Qatar. Police arrested three suspects including a former Italian customs officer who had run for the Italian senate with the neo-fascist party Forza Nueova, an Italian citizen who was acting as an illicit arms vendor for the group, and a Swiss citizen who owned the hangar where the missile was stored.

This development was all the more concerning because authorities had intercepted a phone conversation from Donbas in which one of the mercenaries had said “When I return to Italy I will kill some politicians.” 

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

The 2019 weapons discovery underscores the significant risk for arms trafficking and terrorism posed by foreign fighters returning from combat. Therefore, if information indicates that such foreign fighters begin to return, it may be advisable to devote additional resources to enhancing border control, and enhance targeted intelligence-sharing with relevant partners.

Three of the six mercenary recruiters and fighters for whom arrest warrants were issued in 2018 had significant prior military experience, including Special Forces experience in the Russian military. These Italian cases are not the first time that such a background has been discovered in covert recruiters for Russia in Europe. Therefore, intelligence units should monitor Russian military veterans residing in European states, in particularly those with Special Forces backgrounds.

One offender in the Italian mercenary recruitment and fighter network had no prior military experience but a significant history of political violence alongside other crimes. Police should have effective deradicalization programs in place to engage with local offenders charged with acts of politically-motivated violence, particularly serial offenders.

This recruitment network operated within right-wing extremist groups in Italy and sent mercenaries to fight with the right-wing extremist “Rusich” battalion in occupied Ukraine. This underscores the significant domestic and international terrorist threat from right-wing extremist and the role of such ideologies in radicalisation into violent extremism.

One of the recruiters operated under cover of martial arts training, which is a common Russian tactic. Investigators should prioritize monitoring martial arts groups in Europe with links to Russia, particularly when operated by Russian military veterans.