In First, U.S. Brands Russian Skinheads as Terrorists

The U.S. administration this week branded a Russian white supremacist group, known as the Russian Imperialist Movement, and its top members as global terrorists, making use of a tool normally targeted radical jihadist groups overseas.

During a Thursday briefing organized by the Washington Foreign Press Center, Nathan Sales, the State Department envoy on counterterrorism, described the move as "historic" and "just one part of the administration’s broader strategy to counter white supremacist terrorism abroad."

"Let me be clear: Today’s designations send an unmistakable message that the United States will not hesitate to use our sanctions authorities aggressively and that we are prepared to target any foreign terrorist group regardless of ideology that threatens our citizens, our interests abroad, or our allies," he said.

Asked about timing of the move given Russian nationalists' dark records of intolerance against foreigners, including targeting Americans of African and Asian ethnicity, as well as Azerbaijani and Central Asian migrants in Moscow, and/or reportedly participating armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, Sales told TURAN's Washington correspondent that the threat posed by white supremacist terrorism globally has really been on the rise in recent years. "We’re acting now because the threat is with us now."

In the meantime, he added, Washington acts now because "President Trump recently gave us the tools to act."

In September 2019, the U.S. president issued an order that amended our designations authorities. It was "the most significant expansion of U.S. counterterrorism sanctions authorities since the immediate aftermath of 9/11", Sales explained, adding that the White House made two changes that are particularly relevant to the RIM designation:  "First of all, the President authorized the State Department to designate groups that provide training for acts of terrorism. The second thing the President did was authorize designation of leaders of terrorist groups without having to demonstrate that those leaders were personally linked to particular terrorist attacks, and that was the basis of the designation of the three RIM leaders."

This designation notifies the U.S. public and the international community that RIM has participated in training to commit acts of terrorism.

Designations of terrorists, both individuals and groups, expose and isolate them and deny them access to the U.S. financial system. Moreover, designations can assist the law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.

Sales also called on the Russian government to take more robust actions against RIM and close down its training camps.

Asked whether there were any connection between the Kremlin and RIM, Sales reminded that the Russian government "has said publicly that it’s committed to fighting terrorism. We take them at their word and we expect them to live up to those representations when it comes to RIM."

In the meantime, he added, "we know that the Russian government has in the past and on an ongoing basis used proxy groups to carry out malign influence abroad and to further its aggressive policies."

Moscow, he said, uses these networks to deliberately amplify extremist ideologies across the political spectrum in order to exacerbate social tensions and undermine democratic institutions. 

"So we think that the designation of RIM provides a valuable opportunity for the government of Russia to put its money where its mouth is, to join with us in imposing sanctions on this group, and prevent it from exporting violence and extremism around the world," he concluded.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.