Russia Recruiting Extremists in US, UK, NATO Countries

WHITE SUPREMACIST RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS REACH OUT

By Eric Mack | Sunday, 12 May 2024
NEWSMAX


British intelligence has found Russia is recruiting and deploying extremists in the U.K. and NATO countries to carry out isolated attacks in Western Europe and even the U.S. in the past six months — a structure reportedly mimicked by Iran's use of terrorist proxies in the Middle East.

The Russian intelligence agency GRU and the mercenary Wagner Group is having its undercover officers recruit extremists to roil anti-NATO, pro-Russian, and pro-Vladimir Putin unrest amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, The Telegraph reported, citing intelligence sources.

"The GRU are cultivating a network of right-wing terrorists to deploy against NATO targets," according to a source. "These attacks are already happening and have been going on for a while in various NATO countries and the UK is definitely on the target list.

"Attacks may have taken place in the U.S. and have occurred in Germany."

The source is warning the U.S., U.K., and other NATO allies of the ongoing threat.

"Intelligence agencies are now actively warning their governments that the threat is very real," the source continued, according to the report. "Right-wing extremists are being targeted because they are the group in the political spectrum who are pro-Russia, pro-Putin and very violent.

"There is also a lot of covert contact between right-wing groups in different countries."

Among the targets by the extremist plot is infrastructure, according to the report.

Putin had warned NATO and other countries to not get involved in its "special military operation" in Ukraine, and with bolstered weaponry and aid in recent months, Putin and Kremlin officials have stepped up threats, including the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Britain has expelled Col. Maxim Elovik for being a Russian intelligence agent with the GRU.

Germany is also at a heightened level of awareness, The Telegraph reported.

"We assess the risk of [Russian] state-controlled acts of sabotage to be significantly increased," Germany's spy chief Thomas Haldenwang said, warning the potential plots carry "a high potential for damage."

With the amount of pressure the world is placing on Russia, Mayak Intelligence Director Mark Galeotti told The Telegraph that "we should not be surprised by a pushback."

"As far as Putin is concerned, Ukraine does what it is told," Galeotti continued, noting Putin's clandestine proxy effort to combat its Western rivals. "When he sees Russian factories being attacked, he sees the hands of the CIA, of NATO.

"Not killing people and going after infrastructure facilities show they still have political limits, for the moment.

"Even if Putin speaks of a war against the West, in reality he doesn't want an open conflict. "So Russia is using operations that remain just below the threshold."

Britain remains on high alert.

"The government actively deters and defends against the full spectrum of threats emanating from Russia, working in partnership with our allies," a government spokesman told The Telegraph. "We recently announced that we are expelling the Russian defense attaché and are removing the diplomatic status from several Russian premises as part of a package to tighten defenses against malign activity by Russia across the U.K. and Europe.

"This is the toughest package of bilateral measures imposed on Russia since Salisbury and sits alongside the significant powers of the National Security Act 2023, which are already being used to keep us safe from state threats.

"Alongside the U.S. and Australia, we have also sanctioned a senior Russia-based leader of LockBit, once one of the world's most pernicious cybercrime gangs.

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