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2/x Members of the far-right #NPD youth organization Junge Nationalisten (Young Nationalists) and the neo-Nazi micro-party Dritte Weg (Third Way) have in the past taken part in courses at a paramilitary training center

3/x run by the far-right organization Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) in St. Petersburg, which teaches such things as how to handle weapons and hand-to-hand combat techniques.

4/x This was stated by the German government in its answer to a question by

@MartinaRenner

, a member of the #Bundestag for the Left Party, which was obtained by RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (

5/x Renner sees danger to internal security. "German security authorities must prevent #German neo-#Nazis from undergoing paramilitary training in #Russia,"

told

6/x "In addition, I expect law enforcement agencies to take action against people who have taken part in training in #Russia in the past," added the domestic policy spokeswoman of the left-wing parliamentary group.

7/x Neo-#Nazis who have been trained in #Russia in the use of weapons pose a great danger to internal security, she said. The Russian Imperial Movement with its armed arm, the Russian Imperial Legion, is, according to the federal government's classification,

8/x an extreme right-wing group "that propagates a #Russian Orthodox, national-patriotic monarchism." The goal of the organization is the establishment of a Russian monarchy with Orthodoxy as the state religion,

9/x the Federal Ministry of the Interior writes in its answer to MP

10/x #Russian right-wing extremists in the fight for #Donbass. Long before Russia's war of aggression on #Ukraine on February 24, members of the organization networked with various international #Nazi groups were involved in fighting there.

11/x They have been fighting alongside pro-#Russian separatists in the #Donbass against the #Ukrainian military since as early as 2014. In an interview with a Russian online media outlet,

12/x a leader of the organization claimed to have sent around 100 fighters to the region in eastern #Ukraine. According to media reports, #RIM fighters have also fought in the past in countries such as #Syria and #Libya,

(S+) Ukraine-Krieg: Organisierte Neonazi-Gruppen kämpfen für Russland - Geheimdienstbericht

13/x where the #Russian military or Russian mercenary units are deployed. The

@derspiegel

recently reported, citing an internal paper of the German Federal Intelligence Service (#BND),

spiegel.de

Wladimir Putin begründet seinen Angriffskrieg mit der »Entnazifizierung« der Ukraine. Ein internes Dokument des BND zeigt nun: Ausgerechnet Moskaus Truppen werden von rechtsextremen Gruppen unterst...

14/x that the #Russian Imperial Legion is also fighting in the current war against #Ukraine. Fighters with military experience and graduates of the paramilitary training center in St. Petersburg had been recruited for this purpose.

15/x According to the report, the Russich group and probably the best-known #Russian mercenary group, the #Wagner group, are also active in combat operations in #Ukraine - the #German government accuses the Wagner group of serious human rights violations.

16/x "The so-called 'Wagner Group' is a grouping of #Russian security forces without legal personality, which is presented to the outside world as a private security company," writes the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

17/x It said #Russia uses it as an instrument to enforce its interests abroad, where the Russian government wants to avoid direct attribution to state action. "The '#Wagner Group' is responsible for serious human rights violations in

18/x #Ukraine, #Syria, #Libya, the Central #African Republic, #Sudan and #Mozambique," it continues.

19/x The #Wagner group also has direct connections in Nazi circles. Dmitri #Utkin, who is considered the founder of the mercenary group, has SS insignia and a Reich eagle with a swastika tattooed on his upper body.