22.02.2021, Berlin.
At the request of the Left Party in the Bundestag, the German government provided information on the ties between German neo-Nazis and radical right groups in Ukraine, the Deutsche Welle international broadcaster informed on 22 February.
The government statement on German far-right ties in Ukraine read that German citizens had indeed undergone paramilitary training in Ukraine. Such training is cited as an example of venues for international connections between neo-Nazis along with hand-to-hand combat competitions and the Asgardsrei music festival, which is described as “national-socialist black metal” event.
The government informs that strong ties were established between right-wing radicals in Germany and the Ukrainian nationalist political party National Corps. The party was founded in 2016 as the political wing of the Azov Civil Corps (organization banned in Russia); it is led by former Azov Battalion commander (organization banned in Russia) Andrey Biletsky.
As a specific example of this cooperation, the reply mentions the Kraftquell project in Pirna town, located half an hour southeast of Dresden. The official goal of the project, launched in 2017, is to find accommodation in Germany and Norway for fighters of the Azov Battalion (organization banned in Russia) while they are on vacation in Europe.
The project office is registered in a building owned by a well-known right-wing extremist from Norway; the local branch of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPG) is also located at the same address. Ukrainian citizen Olena Semenyaka was named in the German government’s reply as the coordinator of international projects of the Azov Battalion (organization banned in Russia).
According to the government, in December 2019, the German federal police foiled an attempt of the right-wing radical Third Path party’s (organization banned in Russia) members to travel to Ukraine; at the time of their detention, they were found to have clothing and items “unequivocally indicating that they belonged to right-wing extremist circles.”
The government indicated that the Ukrainian right-wing radical movement Tradition and Order (organization banned in Russia) has a German cell with a “similar name” in Germany. The stated goal is to create a “sovereign German state. The group’s activity is limited to posting of photos and videos in social networks, as well as calls to participate in demonstrations.
The German authorities estimate the number of German supporters of the right-wing Ukrainian group Misanthropic Division, which is banned in Russia and is closely connected to the Azov Battalion (organization banned in Russia), at several dozen people. Their activity is limited to the sale of clothing and items with symbols of the Azov Battalion (organization banned in Russia).
DW notes, however, that the government refused to answer several specific questions from the members of German parliament about the international ties of the German far-right. Particularly, they asked if neo-Nazis from Germany and Ukraine had ever met on Czech territory.
Government representatives justified their refusal to answer with standard wording: agreements with special services of foreign countries, and the desire not to expose agents embedded in the ranks of the radicals.
At the same time, DW points out, after several members of the youth wing of the NSDP “Young Nationalists” (organization banned in Russia) visited Kiev in October 2018 to participate in the right-wing demonstration “March of Defenders of Ukraine,” the leadership of the organization in a special statement recanted their participation in the action, writing that the trip was arbitrary and “is in sharp contradiction with the main lines of our organization.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
