Ukraine

Wednesday, Jul 20, 2022

Joshua Fisher-Birch | CEP Webinar: Western Extremists And The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine In 2022

On July 20, 2022, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) hosted a webinar that addressed the major findings of its latest report,Western Extremists and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: All Talk, But Not a Lot of Walk, including the existing military and paramilitary structures within Ukraine in which foreigners integrate as well as the reaction of the German and the U.S. extremist scenes to the intensification of the war in Ukraine.

Since 2019, CEP has been monitoring the activities of foreign extremists traveling to Ukraine as well as paramilitary infrastructures in Central and Eastern Europe frequented by these extremists. Following the Russian invasion this year, CEP published an initial assessment and recommendations for actions by governments on how to manage this new situation.

EVENT PROGRAM:

Speakers:

Kacper Rekawek PhD – Postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, and CEP-affiliated researcher
Overall analysis and situation of foreign fighters in Ukraine

Alexander Ritzmann – CEP senior advisor
Travel of German extremists to the war zone in Ukraine

Joshua Fisher-Birch – CEP research analyst
Reaction of the U.S. extremist scene to the invasion of Ukraine

Moderator:

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler – CEP senior director

Remote video URL
Body

"A release by Berlin and New York-based Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reported that 'given the available information, it is reasonable to deduce that only a fraction of those who indicated an interest in traveling to Ukraine after February 2022 actually did so.'"

Date
June 14, 2022
Article Source
Body

CEP Senior Advisor Alexander Ritzmann writes: "Nonetheless, western media has come to develop a sort of Azov obsession, buoyed by a complete lack of nuance in the reporting around this group. One key factor missing in all of the analyses of the Azov: the difference between the Azov movement and the Azov regiment. The West’s Azov obsession and the inability to properly understand the overall phenomenon has even led to the spread of damaging anti-Ukraine propaganda in the media."

Date
April 12, 2022
Image
Article Source
Content Variety
Body

"Security officials in Germany have visited known far-right extremists to warn them not to travel to fight in Ukraine. It is one method western states are using to discourage extremists from taking up arms amid fears returning right-wing fighters will pose a security threat. In a webinar hosted by the Counter Extremism Project, experts warned European nations to prepare for the fallout."

Date
April 6, 2022
Article Source
Body

"Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, an independent group following extremist organizations, said the war’s allure for far-right volunteer fighters is not surprising."

Date
April 6, 2022
Image
Article Source
Content Variety
Body

"'He is a figurehead of the worst kind of right-wing extremism in Ukraine's history, and really only the hardest of the nationalist hardliners are fans of him,' Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, told Law360 Pulse."

Date
April 5, 2022
Article Source
Tags
Tuesday, Apr 05, 2022

CEP Webinar: Extremist Foreign Fighters Traveling to Ukraine: Security Risks and Mitigation Measures

Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Speakers:
Alexander Ritzmann – CEP senior advisor
Joshua Fisher-Birch – CEP research analyst 
Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler – CEP senior director
Sofia Koller – CEP senior research analyst

Read the updated CEP Policy Brief here. 

Based on this research and in-depth monitoring of the current situation, CEP experts discussed the various challenges governments face in preventing the departure of such individuals as well as the necessary proactive steps governments in Europe and North America should urgently initiate to establish a flexible system for returnee management, including in cooperation with relevant civil society organizations. Such as system must encompass options for prosecutions as well as deradicalization and reintegration mechanisms.

Remote video URL