Former neo-Nazi head warns that American fascists are planning to fight in Ukraine if Russia invades

The former head of America’s largest neo-Nazi group believes white supremacists and far-right extremists are planning to fight in Ukraine if Russia launches an invasion.

Jeff Schoep, who headed the Nationalist Socialist Movement before renouncing fascism, said war would attract extremists to both sides of the fight.

And just like the rise of ISIS in Syria turned that country into a training ground for Western Jihadists, so too Ukraine cold become a breeding ground for American fascism. 

‘The idea there is to get that training and to get that experience, because of course the far-right people feel that civil war is coming,’ he told DailyMail.com. 

‘So for them it’s an opportunity to fight and get that training.’

Some 150,000 Russian troops remain close to the border with Ukraine, raising fears that an invasion is imminent despite Moscow’s claims it is pulling them back.

A former government official echoed Schoep’s warning and said the Biden administration needed to work with eastern European countries to monitor the movement of known extremists.

And it comes after a leaked report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) revealed the way the Kremlin was indirectly supporting far-right groups in the US.

After 25 years as a neo-Nazi, Schoep now runs Beyond Barriers, which is dedicated to helping people leave extremist organizations.

Members of the Russian Imperial Movement seen here in St Petersburg have trained fighters to join pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. It has reportedly tried to recruit Americans

Moscow claims it is pulling back troops from Ukraine but the US and allies say they have seen no evidence and that an invasion could still happen at any time

He said his team monitoring online chat had flagged conversations about traveling to Ukraine.

And while examples of Americans joining the Azov Division – a Ukrainian extremist group facing off against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country- were well known, in part because of Russian propaganda, he added that US. extremists were connecting with far-right groups on both sides.

‘People volunteer on all sides and that’s what we are seeing with Ukraine and Russia, which might seem strange at first,’ he said.

‘You have national socialists and far-right extremists on the Russian side but also on the Ukrainian side. So you end up with Americans fighting against each other, but they’re both gaining training at the same time.’ 

In recent years, he added, the numbers have been small, but that could change quickly as extremists look for a chance to put their ideas into practice.

‘It’s not like different organisation are sponsoring people to go there,’ he said. 

‘It’s like someone here or someone there goes. 

‘But if an all out war breaks out, I think we will see a spike and it could be just like people gong to fight in Syria – a similar situation.’ 

Schoep now runs Beyond Barriers, which is dedicated to helping people leave extremist organizations, after renouncing his old life

Servicemen of the Azov battalion attend an oath ceremony in Kyiv in 2014. its original commander Andriy Biletsky said Ukraine’s mission was to ‘lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans]’

Schoep, 48, became obsessed as a child with Adolf Hitler after learning that his German grandfather fought in World War II. He rose to head America’s neo-Nazi movement at the age of 21.  

He says it took him three years to leave the movement, helped by a former Al Qaeda recruiter who made a similar journey and became an anti-extremism campaigner.

Schoep spoke soon after a leaked intelligence report accused the Kremlin of turning a blind eye to links between Russian groups and the American far right.

It concluded the Russian government was providing ‘indirect and passive support’ to neo-fascist American groups as part of an effort to aggravate division in the West. 

The Russian government ‘probably tolerates some private Russian entities’ support’ for U.S. and European white nationalist groups ‘because it aligns with Kremlin efforts to aggravate societal fissures in the West,’ said the ODNI report, obtained by Yahoo News.

The Rusich Reconnaissance and Sabotage Group, a Russian neo-Nazi organization, sent members to fight in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015, according to the report. 

And it said the Russian Imperial Movement has tried has tried to recruit Americans for paramilitary instruction at its camps.

On the other side, the Azov Group made headlines this week when pictures emerged of its volunteers training a 79-year-old grandmother with an AK-47.

Valentyna Konstantynovska, 79, became the face of a civilian combat drill in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, when she was photographed looking down the sight of the gun.

In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, Russian army tanks are loaded onto railway platforms to move back to their permanent base after drills in Russia

A former US government official said Russia had frequently accused neo-Nazis of fighting on behalf of Ukraine, but that was part of an effort to justify any move against its neighbor.

‘It is incomplete to the point of inaccuracy to not also mention the fact that the pro-Russian side has attracted more than its fair share of unsavoury neo-Nazi types as well,’ he said.

‘This is an issue that we were very concerned about during the Trump administration, and I suspect the Biden administration is just as concerned.’

He said the administration should be working with Ukraine’s neighbors to monitor arrivals, as well as urging Kiev not to rely on far-right elements to defend itself.

‘We’re giving you Javelins, we’re giving you Stingers, we’re giving you all kinds of weaponry and training, use that to protect yourself against Russia,’ he added.

‘You don’t need to rely on neo-Nazis.’

But he added it would be harder to discourage Russia.

The CIA, ODNI and White House all declined to comment.