Russian far-right militias and neo-Nazis fighting against Ukraine, says German intel

Russian far-right groups and neo-Nazis are participating in President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, making his intent to “de-Nazify” Kyiv “absurd,” say German intelligence officials.

One of these groups is the Russian Imperial Legion, the paramilitary arm of the white-supremacist Russian Imperial Movement, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND, short for Bundesnachrichtendienst) said in a government briefing reviewed by Der Spiegel. The Legion was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 2020.

The Legion brought military experience from past deployments, like the 2014 separatist Donbas conflict in eastern Ukraine. It also hosts a training program for new recruits in St. Petersburg known as “Partizan,” the Russian word for “Guerilla.”

Denis Garieyev, the legion’s leader, declared on Telegram the day after the invasion began that, “Without a doubt, we advocate the liquidation of the separatist entity Ukraine.”

Putin and Kremlin allies have said the “special military operation” into Ukraine was necessary because Kyiv’s government is run by neo-Nazis.

BND said that the fact Russia’s ultra-nationalists were participating on its side made “the ostensible reason for the war, the so-called denazification of Ukraine, absurd,” reports The Times of London.

The league announced that it was entering combat operations in Ukraine in March. Since then, Garieyev’s deputy had been killed in combat, said the BND.

German intelligence said another neo-Nazi group, Rusich, joined the conflict in early April. Part of the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-allied private military contractor, they also fought in Donbas and Syria and were known for brutality and “never taking prisoners.”

One of Rusich’s founders, Alexei Milchakov, was wounded as soon as his group entered Ukraine, said the BND.

The BND report included photos of Rusich’s two founders making the Hitler salute with a Nazi swastika flag. It could not say if there was direct communication between the extremist militias and the Russian military.