American Neo-Nazi Leader in Russia Linked to Resurgent Terror Network Across Europe

Rinaldo Nazzaro built the Base from scratch in 2018 using encrypted chat rooms, survivalist land parcels in Washington state, and a career résumé that included contracting for the FBI and the Pentagon. He then moved his family to Saint Petersburg, obtained Russian citizenship, and began directing the neo-Nazi accelerationist organization from one of Russia's most surveilled cities. For years, F.B.I. agents believed they had broken the group's back. A cascade of arrests and terrorism designations across five continents suggested they were right. They were not.

The Base began calling for targeted assassinations and attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure to destabilize the country, offering cash through Telegram posts for volunteer operatives willing to strike power stations, military and police vehicles, government buildings, and Ukrainian politicians. It was the first time the group demonstrated its alignment with the Kremlin's geopolitical objectives.

Based on public reporting and online monitoring, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue believes the Base has operated in at least 18 countries since November 2023, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

"While neo-Nazi accelerationists often exaggerates their reach, there is no denying the Base's resurgence," said Steven Rai, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who monitors global extremism and first spotted the Base's Ukraine posts online.

Members of the Base were arrested in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, where authorities stated the cell had ties to a network of Russian far-right terrorists recruiting on Telegram. In August 2024, three Base members, including a 16-year-old, were arrested in the Netherlands for allegedly inciting terrorist attacks in online chat groups. The following month, two individuals tied to the Base were arrested in Italy for crimes including advocating for violence, with the pair also reportedly connected to an obscure neo-Nazi accelerationist group based in Russia known as AAST, which promotes the Order of Nine Angles and glorifies violence against Ukraine. In December 2025, a Europol-coordinated raid in Spain arrested three additional suspected members and seized two firearms, bladed and blunt weapons, tactical training equipment, and Nazi material.

The Base has been designated a terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, and is the first far-right group to be listed by the EU.

Nazzaro's biography has long unsettled both analysts and his own followers. He worked for the FBI as an analyst and as a contractor for the Pentagon, and also claims to have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2017, Nazzaro and his family moved to Russia, where he obtained Russian citizenship and a Russian passport, possibly in an attempt to avoid legal consequences in the United States. A March 2019 video showed him wearing a T-shirt bearing an image of Vladimir Putin and the words "Russia, absolute power." In November 2020, he appeared on the Russian state-owned channel Russia-24 to deny any connection to Russian intelligence services.

The denials have not quieted suspicions inside or outside the group. Former members alleged that Nazzaro had been seen "texting on a phone in Russian, in a fluent/at least good level" which "led to the belief that he might be a Russian federal asset." Other members reported that during surges of arrests of Base members, he would board a plane to Russia. Steven Rai of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue noted that Nazzaro continues to operate from Saint Petersburg, funding and directing the group from Russia, and that its reliance on Russian platforms and inauthentic accounts suggests possible state support, though he cautioned there is "no smoking gun that proves state sponsorship."

The Base has shifted much of its online content to Russian-owned platforms, with calls for attacks on Ukraine first appearing on the group's VKontakte account, often described as Russia's equivalent of Facebook.

The operational reach inside Ukraine has grown more lethal. In mid-June 2025, White Phoenix, the Base's Ukrainian cell, claimed responsibility for the assassination of Ivan Voronych, a senior intelligence officer at the Security Service of Ukraine. In February 2026, the group's Ukrainian branch claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Odesa.

The Base is expanding its scope, aligning its interests with Russian goals, and leveraging the FBI's stand-down on domestic terrorism investigations to increase its footprint in the United States. Nazzaro stated as recently as June 2025 that he remains "openly adversarial" toward the U.S. government and that he hopes for its demise. The Russian Imperial Movement, a St. Petersburg-based white supremacist organization whose three leaders were designated Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the U.S. Treasury in 2020, represents the ideological infrastructure that has long made Russia hospitable ground for exactly this kind of operation. The Base, it now appears, has graduated from operating within that ecosystem to actively serving its strategic aims.