Is Russia co-opting American far-right groups to attack western democracies?
A former Pentagon contractor works with secretive sections of US special forces, then ups and moves to Russia. He gets married, radicalizes and starts popping up on Telegram channels as the leader of a neo-Nazi terrorist group recruiting Americans.
Soon, allegations swirl that he is a Russian spy.
While this sounds like something Tom Clancy would write, it is reality: Rinaldo Nazzaro, better known as the leader of the Base, once worked in drone targeting with the US Special Operations Command in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recently, the Guardian revealed allegations from inside the Base that he was long suspected of working with the FSB, one of Russia’s main intelligence services.
If true, the startling revelation about Nazzaro fits into the Kremlin’s well-documented global mission of co-opting far-right and criminal organizations to carry out attacks on western democracies.
That mission is very much alive and well.
“The Kremlin plays the long game and is highly invested in developing assets that can be used to wreak havoc in the west,” said Colin Clarke, a geopolitics expert and director of research at the Soufan Center who has closely followed Russia’s flurry of sabotage operations around the world. “Russian intelligence services are using far-right terror groups to their advantage.” [Continue reading…]