For years, experts have warned that the war in Ukraine—which was, for a time, a frozen trench conflict isolated to Donbas—could become a training ground and terrorist hotbed for the global far-right movement. Azov Battalion, an ultranationalist unit within the Ukrainian military, is dogged by its connections to neo-Nazism and the global far-right.“Whenever a unit takes them, they’ll process into and start fighting, to either get experience or to reignite some type of passion in their lives, for the excitement, I guess.”
Mike Dunn, leader of the Last Son's of Liberty, which is part of the boogaloo movement, attends a Lobby Day 2021 event in Richmond, Va. Monday Jan. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/John C. Clark)
A weapon on a demonstrator is seen during a gun rights rally outside of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia on January 17, 2022 (Photo by Bryan Dozier/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Months later, the Boogaloo movement latched onto the national unrest after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Boogaloo Bois tried to present themselves as allies to Black Lives Matter activists demanding justice for Floyd and other Black victims of police brutality. However, it became clear that the true intention of many in the movement was to advance their own broader goals of anarchy and societal collapse. Individuals with ties to the Boogaloo movement were linked to a string of violent plots and incidents that year: a fatal ambush on a federal security officer in Oakland, a plot to bomb an electrical substation in Nevada, shooting at a police station in Minneapolis during ongoing protests, and even the alleged plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan in revenge for the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. A few Boogaloo Bois, including Dunn, even showed up on Jan. 6 at the Capitol (though he insists he never went inside and has never been charged with anything in relation). At that time, a schism was forming in the Boogaloo movement. Some felt like the joke had gone too far and they’d gotten in over their heads. As one former Boogaloo Boi who goes by “Scrappy” and plans to travel to Ukraine this fall described it, “more extremist-type people came in and ruined the group.” “You had guys that came in that were saying that they wanted to blow stuff up or shoot people,” said Scrappy, 20. “And I left the group because I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want to get in trouble.” He claims he even got a visit from the FBI. “I was just a kid at the time,” said Scrappy, who works as a mechanic in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “In all honesty, nowadays it's a terrorist organization that doesn't commit acts of terror.” Despite having no interest in aligning himself with the Boogaloo movement, Scrappy says he fully anticipates that the U.S. government will be monitoring him, especially given he was already on the FBI’s radar to begin with. “I understand why they would, they have every reason to because I was part of an extremist group at one point. That’s absolutely a fair observation,” Scrappy said. “And I wish they would investigate me further just in case. You know, I’m not saying that anything’s going to happen, but they have a job to do at the end of the day.” Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.“It’s entirely legal to go engage in combat with the Russian Federation and not on U.S. soil. But am I expecting a visit when I get back? Yeah.”
