Thread by @ChristopherJM

NEW: For years I've researched men who go to fight with Ukraine's far-right units. This story of a US Army vet charged with killing a Florida couple and an examination of his exploits provides a stark example of the impact of one American’s radicalization buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

Since Russia invaded the Donbas and sparked a war in 2014, Ukraine has attracted Americans who want to fight alongside far-right paramilitary forces. Now people are beginning to ask: What happens when radicalized soldiers like Craig Lang return home? buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

Lang deserted the Army & later traveled to Ukraine to fight with Right Sector, an extremist paramilitary force that welcomed volunteers. By the time he returned to America, he had grown increasingly radicalized & relished violence, fellow fighters & friends told me. 📸Timo Vogt

Any plans to return to fighting overseas meant Lang needed 💰. So, according to US authorities, he & another American who fought with Right Sector planned an ambush under the guise of an arms sale. In April 2018 a Florida couple fell under a deadly hail of bullets. 📸Lorenzo fam

Extremism experts like @KacperRekawek & @msaltskog have been following the activities of far-right extremists with military backgrounds who see foreign war zones such as Ukraine's as labs to gain actual combat experience. They worry about what happens when they leave the war.

Experts say Ukraine's emerged as a hub in the transnational white supremacy extremism network. The US govt is slowly catching on. Extremists began pouring in starting in 2014/15, and among them were roughly 40 Americans, by my count. Three pictured here, inc Lang. (Timo Vogt)

The former ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Dept, while still in his post, told me the US had been monitoring reports of American white supremacist fighters in Ukraine “very closely.” But as the fighters told me, the US hasn't stopped them.

The case of Lang, who's in Kyiv, is not just a matter of extraditing an accused killer. For Ukraine, it's an issue of what to do with a man who fought for the country & could face the death penalty if he returns to the US. In Ukraine, nat'list/patriotic circles see him as a hero

Pausing here to say a very big THANK YOU to the incredible team of @GeorgeWPapajohn @believekarolina @arielkaminer @hickatz @allmalone @DhatIslandGirl @Walldo for incredible edits, fact-checking, legal, & social curation. My god, @BuzzFeedNews is amazing.

And of course to the fantastic photo+design squad of @bubaczery @brknyc @Oks_Parafeniuk @brendanhoffman @Eve_Edelheit who are always a pleasure to work with.

I reported this story in Ukraine & Florida. Down in Estero, I retraced the steps authorities say Craig Lang & his alleged partner in crime Alex Zwiefelhofer—both ex Army soldiers turned Right Sector fighters—took there from Miami. I stayed in same hotel, rented same model car.

Here's where they stayed & where FBI say they hatched plan to ambush, kill, rob Serafin & Deana Lorenzo after luring them in with a fake gun ad under the name Jeremy Goldstein. Zweifelhofer used Lang’s laptop to create the ad & FB page, using a pic of Zwief from the Miami hotel.

I spoke to employees of the Galleria biz complex where Serafin and Deana Lorenzo were killed and got this photo of the crime scene being cleaned up. (Left shows the spot where the killings occurred; right shows the cleanup.) The killings shocked little Estero & the Lorenzo family

Zwiefelhofer was arrested in 2019 & is in fed custody in Florida awaiting a June 1 trial in the Lorenzo killings. But in just about the wildest way possible (allegedly trying to buy new ID with guns, sneaking into Mexico, flying to Colombia...) Lang managed to return to Ukraine.

Lang stayed under the radar for a while but then he met a woman he wanted to marry. To do so, however, he needed to leave Ukraine and return with a fresh stamp in his passport. After a quick trip to Moldova, an Interpol notice popped up and Ukrainian authorities detained him.

I reported on Lang's detention in 2019 with @Mike_Eckel: rferl.org/a/former-u-s-s…

And kept on the story: rferl.org/a/u-s-soldier-…

I caught up with Lang in Kyiv this February but he wasn't interested in chatting with me. This very awkward scene played out when I approached him in the lobby of a Kyiv courthouse, where he was fighting extradition to Florida to face trial for the Lorenzo killings.

Here’s a look inside the courtroom in Kyiv in February. Lang is standing beside his translator; his Ukrainian fiancée is seated behind. Lang talking with his lawyers before the hearing. And celebrating with Right Sector after judges ruled to strike his extradition order.

The celebration was short lived. Weeks later the same court overturned that ruling and upheld the Ukrainian extradition order. But the saga isn’t over yet. Read to the end of the story to see what’s next. buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

A bit more. And I admit I’m jumping around now. Lang has found some (but not much) support for his cause in Ukraine — among far-nationalist groups who’ve been involved in the war and violence against minority groups. But their campaigns haven’t caught on with the wider public.

Also see this small rally for Lang from last autumn, with leaders of violent extremist groups C14 and Tradition and Order.

This is Serafin — who went by Danny — and Deana Lorenzo. They were shot and killed and robbed on this day in 2018. Both were military veterans. Authorities have charged Lang and Zweifelhofer in the killings. Serafin’s service dog is named Red. 📸 courtesy of family