An American far right extremist group with ties to Russia is set to become the fifth neo-Nazi group banned under the UK’s anti-terror laws, reported BBC News.
Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel described The Base and the other four neo-Nazi groups banned under anti-terror laws as “evil white supremacist groups, who target vulnerable people across the world.”
The Base, which was formed in 2018, was exposed by the BBC in 2020 as recruiting inside the UK.
The BBC also investigated the group’s American founder Rinaldo Nazzaro and revealed that he was leading the organization from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he was currently living. It exposed his efforts to interview and radicalize young recruits from the UK.
According to the ADL, The Base is a “small militant neo-Nazi organization that emerged mid-2018 and is primarily active in the U.S.”
“The group members portray themselves as vigilante soldiers defending the ‘European race’ against a broken ‘system’ that has been infected by Jewish values. The Base embraces Hitlerian ideology coupled with a mission to prepare for an impending race war” and to that end the group “wants to establish a nationwide network of people who believe in the use of violence to overthrow the existing social and political order.”
An official ban in the UK, which still needs to be approved this week by MPs, would make membership or support of The Base subject to a terrorism charge that comes with a maximum of 14 years in prison.
The UK Home Office stated that the group has similar beliefs to Atomwaffen Division and National Socialist Order, both banned earlier in the year.
Two of the other far right groups banned under UK anti-terror laws are the British groups National Action and Sonnenkrieg Division. The forth group, Feuerkrieg Division, was founded in Estonia.