“The assassination claim from the Base’s Ukraine operation shows that they want to be seen as operational, an ongoing threat, and, based on their statement, firmly opposed to the Russian government,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, an extremism analyst at the Counter Extremism Project who has been tracking the group for several years. “This last point is important because of the strong appearance, while still officially not proven, of the Base and their Ukrainian affiliate to be connected to Russian sabotage operations and have ties to the Russian intelligence services.” Fisher-Birch pointed out that the Ukrainian cell, for example, has “only publicized harming Ukrainian individuals, buildings, and infrastructure” and not of Russian servicemen invading the country.