A Study of Bulgarian Far-right Proto-militias Dismantles the Theory of the Lone-wolf Extremist

The following material originally appeared on Global Voices, 26 August 2019 15:55 GMT 

For the past four years, Bulgarian journalist and analyst Ruslan Trad (also a Global Voices contributor) and his colleague Kiril Aramov, a fellow at the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas, Austin, have been studying right-wing extremist groups in Bulgaria under the banner of the Borderline Watch Project.

In May 2019, Trad and Aramazov published a research study titled "Self-Appointed Defenders Of "Fortress Europe": Analyzing Bulgarian Border Patrols" on the renowned open-source investigative journalism site Bellingcat. The pair are also in the process of writing a book.

Global Voices spoke with Ruslan about their work.

Global Voices: Who exactly are the groups you studied?

Ruslan Trad: Our research has been on the proto-militias that patrol the Bulgarian-Turkish border—the so-called Shipka Bulgarian National Movement (BNO). In 2016, I published an article on these militias on Global Voices that formed the basis for the Bellingcat study.

Since 2016, these patrols have turned from "migrant hunters" into proto-militias with links in far-right circles across Europe. Today, the organization conducts training camps, trainings, and attracts young people to their cause. Our investigations of their paramilitary training camps revealed that the Bulgarian groups serve mainly as hosts. Participants in the camps include citizens of Denmark, Romania, the UK and other countries, who receive training from Russian military instructors. So the goals of these groups are also global in scope.

GV: How would you characterize the BNO's ideology?

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