Online Neo-Nazi Paramilitary Training Poses 'Urgent Danger'
A dangerous neo-Nazi network is now offering online military training, including instruction on drone warfare, raising grave national security concerns on both sides of the Atlantic. The group, known as the Observations Group, has deep connections to a proscribed terrorist organisation and an individual accused of being a Kremlin spy.
Joshua Fisher-Birch, a terrorism analyst with nearly a decade of experience, confirmed the threat. "Offering military-style training materials, including drone tradecraft, to the extreme right indicates that this is for prepping purposes," he stated, highlighting its aim to improve the capacity of extremist networks to commit violence.
The Observations Group and Its Kremlin Links
The Observations Group bills itself as a "paramilitary project to prepare people for modern warfare." While it promotes militant courses in closed chat groups, its public Telegram channel boasts of an online "military course" covering basics for soldiers and the latest information on drones, NATO doctrines, and techniques from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
The group's leader confirmed to The Guardian that he is based in Russia, with autonomous units in other countries. Crucially, the group has announced an alliance with Rinaldo Nazzaro, the leader of the Base—a designated neo-Nazi terrorist group—who uses the alias Norman Spear.
Nazzaro, repeatedly accused by former members of being a Russian intelligence agent, did not deny his connections when contacted. He stated, "The Base has its own organic European network... we're always open to collaboration with like-minded groups." Fisher-Birch noted that Nazzaro's likely connection to Russian intelligence suggests the Observations Group project is potentially similarly connected.
Cryptocurrency, Drones, and an Escalating Threat
The group's shift to an online seminar, funded via cryptocurrency, makes its financial operations and strategic plans harder for law enforcement to trace. Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, identified this as part of an "urgent danger" on the far right.
He warned, "Extremist groups that learn from foreign war zones pose a dangerous contagion threat, channeling battlefield experience into domestic or transnational contexts." The FBI has major concerns about terrorist organisations using easily-purchasable, first-person view drones for domestic attacks in the US.
Evidence shows that military-trained neo-Nazis in the US, including an alleged former marine and drone operator from the defunct Atomwaffen Division, are already advising others within the movement on using cheap, 3D-printed drones for attacks.
Webber concluded that preventing a shift from virtual coordination to tangible violence requires monitoring illicit financial flows and taking down key digital channels. "Failure to intervene could allow these battlefield-inspired tactics to spread further, potentially leading to high-impact attacks," he said.
