Foreign Fighters in Ukraine – "concerned citizens of the world" or a security threat?

Foreign fighters, or volunteer combatants in a war outside their countries of origin have, have been present in the Russo-Ukrainian war since the Spring of 2014. Eight years ago hundreds of such individuals fought on both sides of the conflict. In 2022, however, the situation changed markedly as up to 20 000 individuals allegedly expressed an interest to join Ukraine's "International Legion." Their motivation to do so, the ways in which they reached the front, and the challenges they encounter in Ukraine provide a unique and largely unknown perspective on this war. 

Kacper Rekawek is a postdoc at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX). Rekawek has 15 years of experience in counter terrorism and countering violent extremism from academia (Queen’s University Belfast, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews), think tanks (Polish Institute of International Affairs, PISM) and the third sector (GLOBSEC, Counter Extremism Project). Since 2014 he has been studying and published on the Western extremist foreign fighters in the war in Ukraine and is now finishing a book on the topic entitled Foreign Fighters in Ukraine: The Brown-Red Cocktail.

This event is organised by the Consortium for Research on Terrorism and International Crime.