See No Evil

Members of Azov battalion attend a rally on the Volunteer Day honouring fighters, who joined the Ukrainian armed forces during a military conflict in the country's eastern regions, in central Kiev, Ukraine (credit: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS)

"If Canada is going to be providing military training to foreign forces, then it is our responsibility to know we are not training neo-Nazis"

"It is our obligation to our Canadian veterans who sacrificed so much defeating fascism in Europe."

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts policy director, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

"[Our group's members serve at present as officers in Ukraine's military and] have succeeded in establishing co-operation with foreign colleagues from such countries as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, the U.S.A. Germany and Poland."

"[We support] right patriots, nationalists, conservatives and Christians currently defending the streets of Kyiv from [Kyiv Pride event] perverts from the LGBT movement and their left-liberal sympathizers."

Ukraine fascist militia, Centuria

 

"White supremacy and neo-Nazism are unacceptable and have no place in our world. I am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the U.S. from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighting in Ukraine."

"The State Department should pressure Kiev to dissociate itself with this group and investigate whether any of our weapons or training have already been provided to them,"

"This is just one of many reasons why lawmakers should be concerned about channeling huge amounts of weapons into this volatile conflict zone."

U.S.Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)

"Evidence uncovered in this paper suggests that since 2018, the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy (NAA), Ukraine’s premier military education institution and a major hub for Western military assistance to the country, has been home to Centuria, a self-described order of 'European traditionalist' military officers that has the stated goals of reshaping the country’s military along right-wing ideological lines and defending the 'cultural and ethnic identity' of European peoples against 'Brussels’ politicos and bureaucrats'. The group envisions a future where 'European right forces are consolidated and national traditionalism is established as the disciplining ideological basis for the European peoples'."

"The group, led by individuals with ties to Ukraine’s internationally active far-right Azov movement, has attracted multiple members, including current and former officer cadets of the NAA now serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Apparent members have appeared in photos giving Nazi salutes and made seemingly extremist statements online."

Illiberalism Studies Program

A new report from an American university says far-right extremists in Ukraine’s military have bragged they received training from the Canadian Forces and other NATO nations. ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

George Washington University in Washington, D.C. recently published a study out of one of its institutes where social media accounts of the far-right group Centuria in Ukraine were tracked, documenting the fascist group's Ukrainian military members with Nazi salutes as they engage in the promotion of white nationalism, praising Nazi SS units' members. Nostalgia for another time and place where fascism threatened the world order and committed the gravest atrocities against humankind in the mid-20th Century during a time of a global-churning world war.

 

The Ukrainian nationalists militia group Centuria has been active since 2018 at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachy National Army Academy in Ukraine, according to the George Washington University's Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. Members of Centuria have left their handprint on social media, claiming to have received military training from the Canadian military, as well as having taken part in military exercises with Canada.

This is hugely disturbing news to institutions dedicated to vigilance for the appearance of fascist groups as threats to world stability. The Canadian military was apprised of the presence of neo-Nazis within their own services in the past year and speedily made efforts to root them out, claiming it has no tolerance for fascists operating within its ranks. Organizers with Centuria boasted on social media of their members currently serving as officers in Ukraine's military establishment.

The University of Washington report on their study has been widely read and was of huge interest to the Simon Wiesenthal Center dedicated to fighting fascism in memory of the institutional state obliteration of six million Jewish lives during the Holocaust years taking place within the theatre of the Second World War. The Center for Holocaust Studies wrote to the Acting Chief of the Canadian Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre and to Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan asking them to launch an investigation.

It is the Simon Wiesenthal's position that the Canadian Forces should conduct an investigation to determine whether its troops have been involved in training neo-Nazis in Ukraine and to further devise a way to make certain military instruction through Canadian Forces' auspices do not reoccur. The response from the Canadian Forces was to advise that Ukraine must vet its own security forces; the Canadian military is not proactively engaged in determining backgrounds of foreign trainees, nor do they search out support for far-right groups.

Ukraine's government denies the very existence of Centuria. The hands-off approach of the Canadian military has understandably failed to quell the unease of the protesting Wiesenthal Center. In 2015 when the decision was reached to send Canadian troops to Ukraine, the then-Canadian defence minister was aware of the likely presence of far-right extremists in the Ukraine military and discussions were led on avoidance in training extremists.

The decision was reached to stipulate that units of the Ukrainian National Guard exclusively would be trained, avoiding the training opportunities that some ad hoc militias that had appeared in Ukraine at that time, seeking to take opportunities for themselves would be avoided. The Canadian defence critic MP Jack Harris however, gave warning that far-right groups were integrating themselves into the Ukraine military and the difficulty that would ensue attempting to isolate extremists.

A new report from an American university says far-right extremists in Ukraine’s military have bragged they received training from the Canadian Forces and other NATO nations. Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV /GETTY

The Rebirth of White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis Globally

"White supremacy extremism is a transnational challenge -- its tentacles reach from Canada to Australia, and the United States to Ukraine -- but it has evolved at a different pace in different parts of the world."
"To make serious progress, the United States should consider building upon Canada and the United Kingdom's leadership by sanctioning transnational WSE groups as foreign terrorist organizations."
"In Ukraine, the Azov Battalion has recruited foreign fighters motivated by white supremacy and neo-Nazi beliefs, including many from the West, to join its ranks and receive training, indoctrination, and instruction in irregular warfare."
Soufan Center, New York, report on White Supremacy Extremism: The Transnational Rise of The Violent White Supremacist Movement

A news broadcast by German ZDF station on September 8 showed soldiers of the Ukraine Azov Battalion in Mariupol with Nazi symbols on their helmets

“Canada has not, does not, and will not be providing support to Azov and affiliated entities."
"Canada is strongly opposed to the glorification of Nazism and all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance and extremism."
Dan Le Bouthillier, spokesman, Department of National Defence

The Soufan Center has warned of a growing trend for white supremacist groups to seek out opportunities for military training and experience in foreign conflicts, and it seems that the standing conflict in eastern Ukraine is particularly interesting for white supremacists. People have streamed into Ukraine to join the battalion of the regular Ukrainian Armed Forces from Brazil, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, France, America, Greece, Scandinavia,Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic Croatia, Russia -- and Canada.

Azov Battalion Insignia

The international neo-Nazi network called Blood & Honor is mentioned in the report with respect to Canadian efforts to sideline its recruitment in Canada, adding it, identified as a right-wing extremist group, to the official list of terrorist organizations. Blood & Honour, founded in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s has its Canadian supporters. It and its armed branch Combat 18, which has been known to be responsible for bombings and murders around the world now both share space on Canada's list of terrorist organizations.

The Soufan Center's report represents a nudge to the U.S. government to designate white supremacist groups as international terrorists, hindering their members' ability to travel and fostering the capacity of the U.S. government to prosecute individuals who provide material support to such designated groups. White supremacist extremists in the United States have been connected to 40 murders there.

Former FBI agent Ali Soufan, involved in counterterrorism cases, the creator of the Soufan Center, warned that white nationalists have been travelling to Ukraine purposing to learn combat skills there, enlisting with the neo-Nazi-connected Azov Battalion, comprised of fighters mostly from eastern Ukraine, where the group distinguished themselves in fierce combat with the ethnic Russian-Ukrainian rebels backed by Russia in the Donbass region.

The recruits from the West have joined both sides of the conflict between Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists, adding up to an estimated 17,000 foreigners hailing from 50 countries who have chosen to fight in that conflict. While the Azov Battalion was lauded by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and elevated to official status within the Ukrainian military, the battalion is known to have cultivated friendly relations with members of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist network based in the United States.

A U.S. army soldier in Kansas was arrested in late September for sharing bomb-making instructions online and discussing attacks on the news media, on left-leaning activists and on former U.S. Congressman Beto O'Rourke. According to the FBI, that soldier, Jarrett William Smith, had expressed interest in joining the Azov Battalion in Ukraine.

Canadian government and military officials in Ukraine met with members of the Azov Battalion last summer. The U.S. Congress, for its part had recognized the threat posed by the group in its neo-Nazi adherence by banning it from receiving American arms, reflecting its links to white supremacy. The Azon Battalion posted images on their social-media site of the Canadians posing with battalion members.

Russian neo-Nazis also are linked with white supremacists in nations of the West, while Russian groups such as the Russian Imperial Movement and its paramilitary unit have attracted and trained foreign fighters motivated by white supremacy and neo-Nazi beliefs, according to the report. Not to be outdone, within the geographic origins of the Nazi movement, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned of an estimated 24,000 far-right extremists in Germany, adding half to be considered potentially violent with "a very high affinity for firearms".

llustrative: A neo-Nazi demonstration in Leipzig, Germany. (CC BY-SA Herder3, Wikimedia Commons)

Ideologies of Hatred and Terrorism

"I think that Breivik was a turning point, because he was sort of a proof of concept as to how much an individual actor could accomplish."
"He killed so many people at one time operating by himself, it really set a new bar for what one person can do."
"This is a particularly strong 'wave', and I think it's being fueled by a lot of political developments and also by the sort of connective tissue that you get from the Internet that wasn't there before that's really making it easier for groups to be influenced and to coordinate, or not necessarily oordinate but synchronize over large geographical distances."
J.M. Berger, research fellow, VOX-Pol

"There's a common framing of far-right terrorism or domestic terrorism as being 'terrorism lite' and not as serious."
"It's an interesting question given that far-right attacks can be quite devastating."
Erin Miller, Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland

"We conceive of this problem as being a domestic one. But that's not the case."
"They [ideological violent actors] don't see themselves as Americans or Canadians, very much like the Christchurch killer didn't see himself as an Australian; he saw himself as part of a white collective."
"It has never been the case that these people didn't think a global way. They may have acted in ways that looked domestic but the thinking was always about building an international white movement."
Heidi Veirich, director, Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center, United States

A woman mourns at a memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

People who subscribe to violent ideologies are readily inspired by others who share their view of supremacy and superiority linked to race or religion. When an atrocity occurs and attracts world attention because of its death toll, while most people are horrified, those sharing the same ideology as the murderer whose rampage caused the death of people, feel fascinated and enjoy the thought that they too can embark on such a slaughter to gain attention to their 'cause' and be admired by others like themselves.

White extremist terrorist attacks in Norway, the United States, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom spurred the attacker who killed 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March. He made references to those successful assaults on humanity whom his like considered inferior and unfit to live, chosen for their unwanted presence as 'outsiders' and a purported link to religious terrorism. The New Zealand terrorist's killing spree linked him to a global network of extremists steadily gaining traction.

Thanks to the Internet and mass communication technologies there is no geographic distance now between people with like agendas of hatred, racism and terrorism. Social media readily facilitates the spread of bigotry and extremism which leads inevitably to violence. Psychopaths seek an outlet for their inner rage and misanthropy, and to feel oneself as endowed with 'white privilege' as a crowning glory with the urge to impress one's beliefs on the world at large, find the perfect solution in deadly violence.

The far-right ideologue Anders Behring Breivik who killed 77 people in Norway in 2001 may live in civilized infamy, but he is famous among those who share his distorted sense of privilege for being a heroic leader in their shared battle against those they deem of lesser privilege, enemies of their ideological stance, and whom they target for removal from the gene pool.

Breivik's manifesto raging against immigration and his deadly solution strikes a resonating bell in the minds of other psychopaths looking for an avenue to express their grievances. Breivik -- wrote an American white supremacist on a white supremacist forum -- had "inspired young Aryan men to action". That same man who posted that sentiment, Frazier Glenn Miller, killed three people a few years later when he opened fire on a Jewish retirement home and community centre in Kansas.

The Christchurch killer paid tribute not only to Breivik but to the Canadian man who had fired at worshipers inside a Quebec City mosque in2017, going so far as to write his name on the stock of his weapon. The Quebec City killer had also admired Dylann Roof, the American who attacked a black church in South Carolina in 2015, killing nine congregants at prayer.



This kind of xenophobic, supremacist ideology targets immigrants, minority groups and religious communities. The Global Terrorism Database produced data identifying close to 350 white extremist terrorism attacks that occurred in Europe, North America and Australia from the years 2011 through to 2017. The definition of terrorism is the use of violence by a non-state actor to attain a political or social goal.

White extremism is taken to embrace under its canopy, white nationalist, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim ideologies, accounting for eight percent of all attacks in these areas; roughly a third of those committed in the United States. Deadly attacks are occurring more frequently, paralleling a rise in hate crimes and bias episodes in the west. Five white extremist attacks took place from 2011 to 2017 in Australia, most on mosques and Islamic centers.

According to experts, similar motives are involved, irrespective of whether the target is a mosque in Perth, an asylum seekers' shelter in Dresden, Germany, or a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Attackers feel justified in hitting back against the perceived strains from immigrants and religious and racial authorities, threatening their white privileged positions.