CEP Webinar: Paramilitary Training Activities Of Violent Right-Wing Extremists – Threat, Mitigation Opportunities, And Challenges

 

(New York, N.Y. / Berlin, Germany) – One of the most concerning offline threats emanating from members of the transnational violent right-wing extremist and terrorist movement concerns ongoing paramilitary training activities. In the past few years, paramilitary training activities of members of this movement concentrated on locations in the United States, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Balkans, while in South African right-wing extremists have strengthened their connections to networks in the U.S. and Europe and served as an inspiration. 

 

The first time, such activities come to the forefront during the conflict in the Ukraine, where a significant number of European and American right-wing extremists traveled to the country to participate in the conflict. Some of these extremists remained in the country while other returned or are currently engaged in other conflict zones. Those right-wing extremist fighters that returned present a latent security risk in their home countries. Their military combat experience, coupled with their extremist ideologies, remain a serious concern. The Ukraine conflict also increased the role and relevance of Central and Eastern European groups and networks for the transnational movement as a whole. During the past years, commercially driven weapons and paramilitary training infrastructure has developed in Central and Eastern Europe which does not seem to deploy particular strict know-your-customer protocols when offering sensitive training services to foreigners. This commercial infrastructure has been used regularly by right-wing extremists to obtain professional paramilitary training.

 

Furthermore, the close connection of many networks within the movement to the Mixed Marital Arts (MMA) scene in Europe and the United States as well as the penetration of violent right-wing extremist individuals in the professional security industry may aid in the preparation for and perpetration of violence and therefore deserves further analysis. In order to counter these activities, both common legal concepts as well as the further development of a range of legal and administrative measures is necessary. These could focus on disrupting travel of the respective individuals, as well as increasing controls over access to arms, ammunitions, explosive material, and their precursors. Finally, greater clarity over potential financial flows towards these training facilities and the respective online content related to members of violent right-wing extremist and terrorist networks could serve as an early warning mechanism.

 

This webinar will explore the issue of paramilitary training activities of violent right-wing extremists in Central and Eastern Europe and discuss the challenges and opportunities that governments encounter when attempting to mitigate this threat. This webinar is the fourth event in a virtual event series during which the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, examines the various challenges emanating from the transnational right-wing extremist and terrorist movement.

 

CEP has compiled a briefing paper on the subject, which can be accessed here.

 

“Paramilitary Training Activities of Violent Right-Wing Extremists: Threat, Mitigation Opportunities, and Challenges”

Date:   Monday, December 13, 2021

Time:   9:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CET

 

EVENT PROGRAM:

 

Moderator

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler

Senior Director, Counter Extremism Project

 

Introductory remarks

Gabriele Scheel

Head of Division “International Cooperation against Terrorism, Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime and Corruption,” Federal Foreign Office of Germany

 

Part 1: Existing training infrastructure and threat analysis

Kacper Rekawek, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo

 

Jakub Woroncow, PhD

Researcher, Institute of Social Safety (IBS), Poland

 

Ruslan Trad

Journalist, co-founder of De Re Militari Journal and member of the Association of European Journalists - Bulgaria

 

Part 2: Government countermeasures, challenges, and opportunities

Jan Bartosek

Expert on firearms policy, Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic

 

Gilles de Kerchove

Former E.U. Counter-Terrorism Coordinator and CEP advisory board member

 

Roundtable discussion

Following Part 1 and during the Roundtable discussion participants will have the opportunity to address questions to the presenters.

 

REGISTRATION:

 

To participate in this webinar, please register via the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hnOACbdDSauGSS_jbxqfDQ

 

Please register up to 1 hour before the webinar start so that your registration can be approved in time.

 

To read CEP’s briefing paper Paramilitary Training Activities of Violent Right-Wing Extremists: Threat, Mitigation Opportunities, and Challenges, please click here.

 

###

Unsubscribe