Thread by @jseldin

#Chechens in Ukraine: "They have their own little war in there" @vera_mironov tells @TheSoufanCenter webinar on #Ukraine-#foreignfighters

Says Chechen contingent fighting for #Russia includes prisoners, drug addicts, others who say they take orders only from Ramzan Kadyrov

MORE: Chechen units taking orders from Kadyrov "kind of settling their previous scores" but also being kept far from #Ukraine held territory so they don't defect, per @vera_mironov

There's also a group of #Chechens fighting for #Ukraine, she says

.@dbyman tells @TheSoufanCenter he's "worried there is an intersection" between white supremacist movement & foreign fighters in #Ukraine even if the numbers right now appear to be small

Those who return are better train, better networked - "the sort of thing violent extremist groups can take advantage of" per @dbyman

#Russia-#Ukraine war-#foreignfighters

"We do not see this as the same issue" as #Syria-#ISIS,
@NaureenCFink tells @TheSoufanCenter about #Russia-#Ukraine and #foreignfighters

BUT "The risk is that we start seeing a lot of changing motives...overlap..." in terms of Ukraine foreign fighter actions

"Things get messy...the biggest challenge is what to do upon their return" per @NaureenCFink

Battle-hardened individuals could be problematic, possibly more likely to advocate violence

"One constant is #antisemistism...horrible rhetoric" among all the supremacist groups & the far-right, per @TheSoufanCenter's Stephanie Foggett

#Putin "certainly learned how to court the far-right & he's really been able to tap into the real disdain they have" for the West

While America's far-right shares common enemies w/#Russia's #Putin, Putin is "trying to ensure they also share a common language" per @TheSoufanCenter's Foggett

"I worry that the far-right really represents a proxy..."

Experienced #foreignfighters - 3 battalions of #Georgians & some #Belarusians now fighting in #Ukraine FOR Ukraine on the front lines, per @vera_mironov

Ukraine not putting the lots of inexperienced #foreignfighters on front lines, she says

There are divisions among #foreignfighters - Americans who are pro-vaccine [#COVID19] go through #Poland while anti-vaxxers go through #Hungary, per @vera_mironov

#Ukraine not facing a shortage of fighters for its front lines vs #Russia, per @vera_mironov, so impacts of #foreignfighters having minimal impact

Some have already been sent home due to mental health issues, she adds

"Lots of anecdotes, a lot of smoke" when it comes to #Russia|n links to far-right & #foreignfighters but hard to confirm data, per @dbyman

#Russia|ns give funding/training to far-right groups across #Europe, he says

BUT #Russia also placing bets on some far-left figures

#Estonia|n intelligence was warning of #Russia cultivating ties to far-right, far-left in 2018...
voanews.com/a/networks-of-…

#ForeignFighters in #Ukraine often NOT being armed -"It's safer not to give them weapons" per @vera_mironov

#Russia's #Wagner Group has better units, more specialized units, experience in urban warfare, which is why #Putin is relocating them to #Ukraine, per @dbyman

"I'm skeptical this is going to make a substantial difference" overall, he says

"The step of establishing an official registration process...creating an official foreign legion" was a key mitigation measure by #Ukraine w/limiting potential harm from #foreignfighters, per @NaureenCFink

"We have to be careful in how we divide the pro-#Russia|n, pro-#Ukraine sides" per @NaureenCFink, saying some may this more in anti or pro Western terms

#ForeignFighters stuck in western #Ukraine -"They're all absolutely...frustrated" by being held back from the frontlines, per @vera_mironov

But unlikely they will be able to leave and join extremist groups to take part in the fight, she says

#Foreignfighters in #Ukraine - "It's not the sort of thing where individuals are able to float around" per @dbyman, on dangers frustrated fighters might present

#Foreignfighters in #Ukraine - "Many of them are fundamentally unfit to be in a war zone" per @dbyman "You have to worry about the ones that stick around and kind of get twisted by he whole thing"