Dozens of extremists leave Germany to fight in Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, dozens of Germans have travelled to fight in the war zone.

In total, the security authorities recorded the departure of 61 people "who have links to extremism or politically motivated offences,” the German Interior Ministry reports upon request by Welt am Sonntag.

There is evidence that 39 people left Germany "with the intention of participating in hostilities." Of these, 27 are pro-Russian and twelve are pro-Ukrainian.

The authorities have specific information that the vast majority of them participated in hostilities.

According to the Internal Ministry, there are both right-wing and left-wing extremists among them.

In fact, the number of volunteers from Germany who are fighting in Ukraine is large. The authorities in that country, however, only collect data on individuals linked to extremism. In addition, there are quite a few former soldiers in the Ukrainian army - some of them previously trained in the Bundeswehr - who have joined the International Legion as part of the Ukrainian army.

A speaker of the federal justice ministry has said that participation in hostilities in Ukraine is not penalised as long as they do not act as mercenaries but as members of regular armed forces or equivalent volunteer corps and militias.

However, this does not protect against investigations into possible war crimes. In response to a question, the federal prosecutor did not want to comment on whether relevant proceedings would be conducted against extremists who had fled the country.

In this vein, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Foreign Policy Expert Roderich Kiesewetter criticised the prosecutors' reluctance.

"People or extremists who voluntarily join Russian armed forces or terrorist groups to take part in an attack on Ukraine should be held accountable upon their return to Germany," he said.

After all, it can be assumed that these militants "systematically participated in war crimes and crimes against human rights."