Neo-Nazi organizations from Russia are taking an active part in the conflict in the east of Ukraine, announces Josef Zissels, the leader of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine (VAAD Ukraine) at a press conference in Kyiv.

“A system of Neo-Nazi Fascist organizations has existed in Russia for over twenty years now. They become notably active during flare-ups, such as during the Russian 1990s and the Moldovan/Georgian crises. Right now they are acive in Ukraine,” Zissels said.

According to the Jewish leader, the most powerful of these groups is the Russian National Unity (RNE), led by Alexander Barkashov. The RNE was created in the early 90s and has a far-reaching structure in the Russian Federation. This structure both hires mercenaries and participates in the fighting with Ukraine directly. The RNE has its own paramilitary groups with flags and symbols reminiscent to the swastika of Fascist Germany.

Zissels said that according to his information, Barkashov himself visited Ukraine in March and May 2104, and is currently also in Ukraine - likely in Donetsk. Barkashov’s younger son is also fighting in the terrorist paramilitary factions.

According to Zissels, other organizations acting in Ukraine besides the RNE include the Eurasian Youth Union (lead by Alexander Dugin), “The Other Russia” (leader - Eduard Limonov), “The Black Hundred,” and lone activists.

“They do not have their own paramilitaries, but their members participate in other paramilitaries,” Zissels notes.

According to the Jewish leader, Russia also uses European neo-Nazis to further its interests. In particular, Zissels stressed, “foreign observers” were tasked with confirming the legitimacy of the Crimean referendum. 33 out of 40 “observers” were representatives of Neo-Nazi organizations, and one was from an ultra-left-wing organization.

They included representatives of the “Third Way” and “Jeunesses Identitaires” (France), “The Legion of St. Isthtvan” (Hungary) as well as Polish and Serbian organizations. Particular activists with Nazi tatoos and T-shirts depicting Corneliu Codrianu - a WWII Romanian Fascist - were also sighted.

“Russia is ill with revanchist ideas, which are closely connected to Fascism,” summarized the VAAD leader.

Earlier the Ukrainian Security Services evicted and banned from further entrance to Ukraine a citizen of Russia, a member of the Russian Neo-Nazi organization “The Black Hundred,” Anton Rayevsky. Rayevsky had been working on behalf of the Special Services of Russia to create a raiding and sabotage party from residents of the Odessa region in order to destabilize the social and politial situation in the region.