On January 20, 2023, CEP hosted a presentation of the new book by Kacper Rekawek entitled "Foreign Fighters in Ukraine. The Brown–Red Cocktail". 

Link to the book here. 

The Russian (re-)invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted the Ukrainian authorities to call on its foreign supporters to join the Ukrainian war effort as part of the nascent “International Legion.” The thousands of individuals that apparently applied to join were not the first foreigners to fight in the conflict in Ukraine. Foreigners have been joining both sides of the conflict since 2014. 

This book unmasks this largely unknown group of fighters. The author analyses their various ideological and social backgrounds, motivations for joining the conflict, and their battle record in Eastern Ukraine. Based on interviews with these fighters the author examines why men risk their lives to fight a war abroad, while also attracting the attention of security services at home. The author seeks to establish whether these returnees constitute a potential security threat to the West.

EVENT PROGRAM:

Book Presentation: "Foreign Fighters in Ukraine. The Brown–Red Cocktail"
Kacper Rekawek, PhD
Author, postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo and affiliated researcher at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)

Discussant
Michael Colborne
Journalist at Bellingcat, author of “From the Fires of War: Ukraine’s Azov Movement and the Global Far Right”

On January 20, 2023, CEP hosted a presentation of the new book by Kacper Rekawek entitled "Foreign Fighters in Ukraine. The Brown–Red Cocktail". 

Link to book here.

The Russian (re-)invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted the Ukrainian authorities to call on its foreign supporters to join the Ukrainian war effort as part of the nascent “International Legion.” The thousands of individuals that apparently applied to join were not the first foreigners to fight in the conflict in Ukraine. Foreigners have been joining both sides of the conflict since 2014. 

This book unmasks this largely unknown group of fighters. The author analyses their various ideological and social backgrounds, motivations for joining the conflict, and their battle record in Eastern Ukraine. Based on interviews with these fighters the author examines why men risk their lives to fight a war abroad, while also attracting the attention of security services at home. The author seeks to establish whether these returnees constitute a potential security threat to the West.

EVENT PROGRAM:

Book Presentation: "Foreign Fighters in Ukraine. The Brown–Red Cocktail"
Kacper Rekawek, PhD
Author, postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo and affiliated researcher at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)

Discussant
Michael Colborne
Journalist at Bellingcat, author of “From the Fires of War: Ukraine’s Azov Movement and the Global Far Right”
 

This event is a European Eye on Radicalization webinar looking at the debate over repatriating Islamic State (ISIS) foreign fighters from the camps in Syria. 

Despite the destruction of ISIS’s “caliphate” taking place in March 2019, more than three years later the issue remains unresolved and politically contentious. 

Another round of debate flared up recently after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) asked France to reconsider its decision to not repatriate two women who traveled to Syria and Iraq in 2014 and 2015 to join the Islamic State, where they gave birth to three children. The French Foreign Ministry said noted the ECHR decision and said that it was ready to renew repatriation operations “whenever conditions allow”. 

To look at the legal implications from the ECHR decision for the states that have put themselves under its jurisdiction, and the other political, moral, and security issues, EER gathered a panel of experts:

Abigail Thorley, Researcher at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT).

Liam Duffy, Researcher, speaker and trainer in counter- terrorism based in London

Sharon Weill, Associate Professor of International law, American University of Paris. Associate Researcher, CERI, Sciences PO Paris

Sofia Koller, Senior Research Analyst, Counter Extremism Project (CEP), Germany.

The event was published on 30 September 2022.

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