U.S. worries about the return of its terrorist mercenaries from Ukraine

U.S. officials, worried about domestic security issues, have been questioning Americans at airports as they travel to Ukraine to fight Russia, according to an intelligence bulletin reviewed by POLITICO.

 

The document shows that the U.S. government is gathering information about Americans traveling to Ukraine and is interested in their activity after they return. But critics say the focus on “violent extremist-white supremacists” echoes one of the Kremlin’s top propaganda points: that supporting Ukraine means also supporting neo-Nazis.

 

It comes as Washington grapples with a messy challenge: dissuading Americans from fighting alongside soldiers who have received some of their training and many of their weapons from the U.S. itself.

 

The Justice Department has not said whether it’s legal for Americans to join the Ukraine conflict. But no Americans are known to face criminal charges just for traveling to Ukraine to fight Russia, which invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24. This document shows that if law enforcement officials wanted to bring charges, they’ve had plenty of opportunities.

 

The bulletin also highlights — with little detail — a concern U.S. officials hold: that American white supremacists who fight in Ukraine could return to the U.S. with greater military training. Property of the People, a government watchdog group, obtained the document through an open records request and shared it with POLITICO.

 

A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson declined to comment on the document, citing agency policy.

 

The document, titled “United States Citizens Joining the Fight for Ukraine,” is an intelligence bulletin from CBP. It’s dated March 7, 2022 — roughly two weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

 

“United States citizens, including some with previous service in the United States, will continue to attempt to depart the United States with the intention of fighting alongside the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine to fight in the armed conflict against the Russians,” the document says, referring to a group of foreigners fighting for Ukraine.

The CBP bulletin makes note of six unnamed Americans who traveled to Ukraine to fight.

 

CBP officers stopped and questioned five of them at John F. Kennedy International Airport and searched luggage belonging to the sixth. Some were questioned earlier in 2022, before Russia launched its full-on onslaught.

 

One admitted to prior involvement in the anti-government Boogaloo movement. Another was a Marine veteran whose “electronic device” showed he wanted to join up with the “Azov Battalion,” the original name for the volunteer group of Ukrainian ultranationalist fighters formed in May 2014 and brought into the government fold later that year. A friend of that veteran — also a U.S. military veteran and an active-duty police officer — was also traveling to Ukraine the same day by another route, according to the document. Officers searched both men’s baggage and found military equipment.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/24/american-fighters-ukraine-white-supremacists-00034860