Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in 2014, the Azov Movement has
emerged as one of the most significant right-wing extremist structures in...


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CEP Webinar: The Azov Movement – Transnational Right-Wing Extremist Networks
And The Current Situation In Ukraine

 

(New York, N.Y. / Berlin, Germany) – Since the start of the conflict in
Ukraine in 2014, the Azov Movement has emerged as one of the most significant
right-wing extremist structures in Ukraine. Transforming from an erstwhile
military unit into a broader political and social movement, Azov is seen by
many stakeholders in transnational violence-oriented right-wingextremist
networks
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as an example to emulate. In addition to being incorporated into state
military structures as a Regiment, Azov initially welcomedforeign fighters
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, including from Europe and the United States that flocked to the conflict in
Ukraine to gain military and fighting experience. This provided the group with
an international network, in particularly within the violence-oriented
right-wing extremist milieus in Europe and the United States.

 

Azov’s transformation from a group focused solely on paramilitary activities
in Ukraine into a social and political movement that espouses right-wing
extremist ideological ideas was paralleled with wide-ranging outreach to other
right-wing extremist networks outside Ukraine. This led to some calls for the
designation <[link removed]> of Azov
as a foreign terrorist group by the United States, a potentially problematic
move. Currently, the paramilitary training infrastructure within Ukraine—in
particular its commercially organizedtraining facilities
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with only scant customer controls mechanisms—presents the risk that
violence-oriented right-wing extremist and terrorist individuals from abroad
obtain weapons and explosives training in Ukraine. This would therefore
potentially increase the effectiveness of the violence that these individuals
may perpetrate in their home countries.

 

Given the transformed role of Azov and its transnational connections to
violence-oriented right-wing extremist networks and individuals outside
Ukraine, further research into the nature, character, and operations of this
movement is required. In this first English-languagebook
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movement, journalist and researcher Michael Colborne explains how Azov came to
be and how it continues to exploit Ukraine’s fractured social and political
situation—including the only ongoing war on European soil—to build one of the
most ambitious and dangerous far-right movements in the world.

 

This webinar builds on the work of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) on the
various challenges
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presented by violence-oriented right-wing extremist and terrorist networks in
Europe and the United States. Colborne will discuss his findings and outline
what potential effects the current crisis concerning Ukraine could mean for the
wider transnational right-wing extremist movement. CEP research analyst Joshua
Fisher-Birch will analyze the situation with a particular view towards networks
and groups within the United States.

 

“The Azov Movement: Transnational Right-Wing Extremist Networks and the
Current Situation in Ukraine”

Date:   Thursday, February 10, 2022

Time:   9:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CET

 

EVENT PROGRAM:

 

Moderator

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler

Senior Director, Counter Extremism Project

 

Presenter

Michael Colborne

Journalist and researcher with the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical
Right (CARR) and Bellingcat, author ofFrom the Fires of War: Ukraine’s Azov
Movement and the Global Far Right
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Discussant

Joshua Fisher-Birch

Research Analyst, Counter Extremism Project

 

REGISTRATION:

 

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

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

 

Please feel free to forward this invitation to any of your colleagues that may
have an interest in the subject.

 

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