On July 20, 2022, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) hosted a webinar that addressed the major findings of its latest report,Western Extremists and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: All Talk, But Not a Lot of Walk, including the existing military and paramilitary structures within Ukraine in which foreigners integrate as well as the reaction of the German and the U.S. extremist scenes to the intensification of the war in Ukraine.

Since 2019, CEP has been monitoring the activities of foreign extremists traveling to Ukraine as well as paramilitary infrastructures in Central and Eastern Europe frequented by these extremists. Following the Russian invasion this year, CEP published an initial assessment and recommendations for actions by governments on how to manage this new situation.

EVENT PROGRAM:

Speakers:

Kacper Rekawek PhD – Postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, and CEP-affiliated researcher
Overall analysis and situation of foreign fighters in Ukraine

Alexander Ritzmann – CEP senior advisor
Travel of German extremists to the war zone in Ukraine

Joshua Fisher-Birch – CEP research analyst
Reaction of the U.S. extremist scene to the invasion of Ukraine

Moderator:

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler – CEP senior director

On July 20, 2022, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) hosted a webinar that addressed the major findings of its latest report,Western Extremists and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: All Talk, But Not a Lot of Walk, including the existing military and paramilitary structures within Ukraine in which foreigners integrate as well as the reaction of the German and the U.S. extremist scenes to the intensification of the war in Ukraine.

Since 2019, CEP has been monitoring the activities of foreign extremists traveling to Ukraine as well as paramilitary infrastructures in Central and Eastern Europe frequented by these extremists. Following the Russian invasion this year, CEP published an initial assessment and recommendations for actions by governments on how to manage this new situation.

EVENT PROGRAM:

Speakers:

Kacper Rekawek PhD – Postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, and CEP-affiliated researcher
Overall analysis and situation of foreign fighters in Ukraine

Alexander Ritzmann – CEP senior advisor
Travel of German extremists to the war zone in Ukraine

Joshua Fisher-Birch – CEP research analyst
Reaction of the U.S. extremist scene to the invasion of Ukraine

Moderator:

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler – CEP senior director

On July 20, 2022, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) hosted a webinar that addressed the major findings of its latest report,Western Extremists and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: All Talk, But Not a Lot of Walk, including the existing military and paramilitary structures within Ukraine in which foreigners integrate as well as the reaction of the German and the U.S. extremist scenes to the intensification of the war in Ukraine.

Since 2019, CEP has been monitoring the activities of foreign extremists traveling to Ukraine as well as paramilitary infrastructures in Central and Eastern Europe frequented by these extremists. Following the Russian invasion this year, CEP published an initial assessment and recommendations for actions by governments on how to manage this new situation.

EVENT PROGRAM:

Speakers:

Kacper Rekawek PhD – Postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, and CEP-affiliated researcher
Overall analysis and situation of foreign fighters in Ukraine

Alexander Ritzmann – CEP senior advisor
Travel of German extremists to the war zone in Ukraine

Joshua Fisher-Birch – CEP research analyst
Reaction of the U.S. extremist scene to the invasion of Ukraine

Moderator:

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler – CEP senior director

Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Speakers:
Alexander Ritzmann – CEP senior advisor
Joshua Fisher-Birch – CEP research analyst 
Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler – CEP senior director
Sofia Koller – CEP senior research analyst

Read the updated CEP Policy Brief here. 

Based on this research and in-depth monitoring of the current situation, CEP experts discussed the various challenges governments face in preventing the departure of such individuals as well as the necessary proactive steps governments in Europe and North America should urgently initiate to establish a flexible system for returnee management, including in cooperation with relevant civil society organizations. Such as system must encompass options for prosecutions as well as deradicalization and reintegration mechanisms.