Italian far-right foreign fighters in the Ukrainian war. The long chain of Transnational Recruitment Network (TRN)

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the phenomenon of far-right foreign fighters engaged on the Ukrainian war alongside pro-Russian separatists. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the phenomenon, albeit limited, also affected Italy. This article aims to map the ties and to analyze the interactions between the various actors involved in the distribution of the call to arms, from recruitment to the reception of foreign fighters in the host country. The article is divided in two parts. First, the aspects relating to the conceptualization of the phenomenon and the motivations underlying the choices to become a foreign fighter will be analyzed. Radicalization processes and their interpretations will also be explored. The second part presents the empirical analysis of Italian far-right foreign fighters operating in the Donbass area. This research uncovered a complex Transnational Recruitment Network (TRN) enabling Italian far-right activists to reach the Ukrainian theater of war. The study findings show that the links between the network nodes of far-right organizations are relevant factors for the activation and radicalization of foreign fighters.

KEYWORDS:

• Foreign fighter
• far-right
• Ukraine
• radicalization
• transnational recruitment network (TRN)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Cfr. UN resolution n.2178 (2014): https://www.undocs.org/S/RES/2178%20(2014)

2 As pointed out by Antonelli (2021), moderator factors have acquired increasing space in the scientific community and in the specific literature on radicalization that explains why, on a micro-social level, there is a different propensity for radicalization by some individuals compared to others, even though they have the same trigger events and root causes to which they are exposed.

3 The overall number of foreign fighters is around 40,000. The combatants came from 80 countries all over the world and travel to Syria and Iraq to join the IS and other jihadist groups (Cook & Vale, 2018; Marone & Vidino, 2019).

4 The conference held on 29 November 2014 in Lavagna was recorded with audio-video monitoring by the Italian police (GIP, 2019).

5 In the initial stages of the conflict, Forza Nuova supported Ukrainian far-right organizations. On the party website, articles as well as an open letter by Roberto Fiore claiming the party’s links with Svoboda, i.e. the All-Ukrainian Union ‘Freedem’ led by Oleh Tyahnybok were published. Although they have been deleted from the Forza Nuova website, the above articles can be found at the following links: http://www.forzanuova.org/comunicati/europa-delegazione-di-fn-incontra-rappresentanti-di-svoboda-kiev (accessed on 01.10.2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emanuele Toscano

Emanuele Toscano is associate professor of Sociology at Università degli Studi G. Marconi in Rome, in the Department of Human Sciences. His research interests are related to the study of subjectivation processes, social movements, and far right movements. Within his last publications: Toscano, E. (2022). Libertà contagiosa. Come l'estrema destra ha cavalcato i movimenti free-vax tra sfiducia e panico morale. In M. A. Polesana & E. Risi (Eds.), (S)comunicazione e pandemia (pp. 23–34). Mimesis.; Di Nunzio, D., Toscano, E., Pirro, F., & Pedaci, M. (2021). Il lavoro “da remoto” degli insegnanti: riflessioni da un'indagine sulla didattica a distanza durante la pandemia. Franco Angeli.; Toscano (2019). Researching Far-Right Movements: Ethics, Methodologies, and Qualitative Inquiries. Routledge; Toscano, E. (2018). Il movimento alterglobal in Europa: soggettività e costruzione di alternative. Una comparazione tra Italia, Francia e Inghilterra. Aracne Editrice.

Andrea Grippo

Andrea Grippo holds a Ph.D in Legal and Political Sciences from Guglielmo Marconi University. His main research interests focus on social movements and the extreme right. Further research interests include anti-gender mobilization, informal participation and university-work transition. His most recent publications are: Grippo (2023). Questioni ontologiche ed epistemologiche nello studio dell’estrema destra. Limiti definitori, ambiguità tassonomica e prospettive di ricerca. Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, in press; Grippo (2022). La ricerca sul campo e l’estrema destra. Riflessioni sull’accesso al campo e sul lavoro emozionale del ricercatore etnografico. Archivio di Etnografia, XVI(2), 103–110; Gurashi, R., & Grippo, A. (2020). How important is culture? Analysis of the most recent data on Italian educational offer and its impact on employment and employability. Journal of Contemporary Management Issues, 25, 113–131.