Neo-Nazi groups involved in the fighting in Ukraine are actively seeking to recruit British far-right activists, a leading anti-fascist watchdog has warned.
At least two Britons are thought to have travelled to the war-torn eastern European country in recent months after encouragement by people linked to the Azov battalion, a notorious Ukrainian fascist militia, according to Hope Not Hate.
The warning comes only four days after the outgoing head of UK counter-terrorism policing, Mark Rowley, revealed that four far-right terror plots had been foiled in 2017 and extreme right groups were seeking to build international networks.
According to Hope Not Hate, a group named the Misanthropic Division, which is linked to the Azov battalion, is working with representatives of UK-based far-right groups, including the proscribed terror organisation National Action and a London-based Polish ultra-nationalist group, to recruit activists to travel to Ukraine.
However, Hope Not Hate said it believed only two or three people had so far left Britain to fight in Ukraine, “and it appears none came via the ranks of the established far right”.
But Rowley underlined the threat posed by such links in a speech on Monday, saying of National Action: “For the first time we have a home-grown, proscribed, white supremacist, neo-Nazi terror group, which seeks to plan attacks and build international networks.”
Releasing its annual State of Hate report on Friday, Hope Not Hate put membership of UK far-right groups at 600-700 people, significantly lower than at times in the past, and said “traditional far-right parties like the British National party and the National Front are now almost extinct”.
“There is a paradox to the far right in Britain today. Organisationally, the movement is weaker than it has been for 25 years,” the watchdog said. “Yet, at the same time, the far right poses a bigger threat – in terms of violence and promotion of its vile views, particularly anti-Muslim views, than it has in many years.
“The threat is evolving. As traditional British far-right groups collapse, far-right-inspired terrorism is on the rise. Replacing old-fashioned racial nationalism is anti-Muslim hatred. Today’s key activists tend to be younger, operate online and have little of the obvious ‘Nazi’ baggage of their predecessors.”
The Hope Not Hate report identifies an “emerging younger generation of far-right activists who are tech savvy, avoid the stereotyped ‘looks’ of the past, and are growing in size and influence”.