Neo-Nazi Group The Base Increases Operations Amid Waning FBI Focus
The Base, a neo-Nazi group led by Rinaldo Nazzaro, is intensifying its activities across the United States as FBI attention on far-right extremism appears to be declining. The United States has become an operational nerve center for the organization, which continues its recruitment efforts primarily through a Russia-based email address despite a crackdown by the FBI in 2020.
Nazzaro, a former Pentagon contractor and alleged Russian asset, promotes the formation of an organized armed insurgency aimed at establishing a white homeland in both the United States and Ukraine. Online activity highlights the presence of US-based cells, including videos from November showing masked men armed with rifles in an Appalachian forest, a June photo of five armed men wearing skull masks, and activities by mid-Atlantic and Midwest cells that feature salutes and gunfire.
Nazzaro has also released audio on a Russian-controlled app calling for violence and detailing plans for targeted attacks on critical infrastructure, including the concept of "acceleration teams." European authorities have responded with action such as a December raid in Spain. The EU has designated The Base as a terrorist organization alongside IS and al-Qaida, resulting in arrests in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.
The group also has a Ukrainian cell connected to acts of terrorism in Ukraine and claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Kyiv intelligence officer in July. Analysts caution that Nazzaro’s aggressive rhetoric signals an escalation in the group's threat level and may lead to increased law enforcement crackdown, especially given concerns about Russian sabotage operations linked to The Base.
Among those associated with the group, Patrik Matthews, a former Canadian cell leader, is currently imprisoned in the US for illegal entry and involvement in plotting a 2020 attack on a Virginia gun-rights rally.
