French Neo-Nazis Smuggle Weapons Back from Ukraine

June 12, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The problem of Western neo-Nazis that have flocked to Ukraine, and have begun showing up back in their home countries, is covered at some length in RT on June 10 in “A Petri Dish for Fascism: How Ukraine Has Become a Magnet for Western Neo-Nazis.” It opens with the April 22, 2023 arrests of two French neo-Nazis, Guillaume Andreoni and Alan Vineron, as they arrived from Ukraine at Bercy bus station in Paris. They were arrested and convicted, not for their activities in Ukraine, but for attempting to smuggle weapons and munitions into France. Mediapart reports that France’s General Directorate for Internal Security had the two on their radar screen, but it was only a random check at Customs that resulted in their detention.

RT writes that Andreoni, known by his military callsign “Bones,” is linked to the group known as Zouaves Paris (ZVP). ZVP has had dealings with the infamous Azov Regiment from no later than 2019, when the head of ZVP, Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier, visited Azov training camps. ZVP has since been banned in France, evidently for their involvement in attacking demonstrators who had tried to disrupt one of Eric Zemmour’s campaign rallies. RT comments: “The ban did not particularly affect the neo-Nazis. Zouaves Paris supporters from the ‘Ouest Casual’ Telegram channel are still singing the praises of Ukrainian fighters and are using Nazi symbols and phrases alluding to various far-right movements in France and Germany. In their posts, they refer to Russian troops as ‘the Asian hordes of Soviet imperialism that have once again taken over Europe,’ and to Chechen units as ‘Putin’s Muslim dogs.’ They use similar duplicate channels to raise funds for the needs of militants and collaborate with neo-Nazis from other countries.”

Alan Vineron was in the French Chasseurs Alpins elite military unit before being dismissed when his neo-Nazi views came to light in media. Earlier this year, in Ukraine, he posted a photo on “TrackANaziMerc” Telegram, wrote RT, showing “three Russian soldiers shot in the head. The image shows that the soldiers were unarmed and killed at close range. After the photos of the execution began circulating online, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that it would examine the crimes of French mercenaries against Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine.”

The feature story also covered cases of similar neo-Nazis from Italy, Norway and the United States.