Anton Shekhovtsov that the United States recognized RIM as a terrorist organization

On April 6, 2020, a guest lecturer at the University of Vienna, an expert on extremist organizations Anton Shekhovtsov gave commentary to the SOVA Center on the recognition in the United States of the Russian ultra-right organization "Russian Imperial Movement" (RID) Stanislav Vorobyov - terrorist.

I support US State Department decision. After the United Right March in Charlottesville On August 11 and 12, 2017, discussions about the threat of right-wing terrorism. Prior to this, right-wing terrorism was considered marginalized and repressed, and he was not given the attention he deserved. Last year, Congressman Max Rose (Max Rose started lobbying for a bill to recognize foreign radical groups terrorist. This idea appealed to some members of Congress, and they started to act.

on the list of terrorist organizations before that included either separatists, or radical left groups, or Islamists, and right-wing organizations were not on the list yet.

Go to activity RID have been eyeing for a long time. Probably, their participation in the war played a role. in the Donbass, and the Partizan paramilitary camp, where Swedish neo-Nazis were trained from the Northern Resistance Movement, who were subsequently found guilty of preparing a series of explosions in Gothenburg. Apparently, these two factors were the main ones.

To be honest, I I thought that other organizations would be on the list first, for example, the Swedish North resistance movement" (Nordic Resistance Movement) or British National Socialist youth movement "National Action" (National action). But first it turned out to be a Russian group, obviously involved in paramilitary activity.