The US has classified the far-right Nordic Resistance Movement as a terrorist, the US State Department announces.
In addition to the organization, three leading people within the organization are also classified as terrorists.
– The ties between European and American right-wing extremists have increased, says terrorism researcher Hans Brun.
The decision to terror-class NMR must have been made together with the US’s European partners. According to the US Foreign Ministry, NMR is considered to threaten the safety of US citizens and national security.
“NMR is classified as having committed, attempted to commit, or poses a significant risk of committing, or participating in training for terrorism,” writes the US Foreign Ministry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes that it is deeply concerned about “the racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist threat all over the world”.
Billström: Shares the US’s image
Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) writes to TT in a comment that they share the US’s view of NMR and that they received information about the terror classification in advance.
“We and the United States share the view that these are serious threats. But unlike the United States, Sweden does not have its own system of ‘terrorist listing’. However, the EU has a terrorist list that also applies in Sweden. It includes, for example, the PKK and other groups,” writes Billström.
The American decision will now be analyzed according to Billström and there is also a close dialogue with the Swedish authorities.
The expert: Many Swedish right-wing extremists in the USA
Terrorist researcher Hans Brun believes that there has been increased activity by Swedish right-wing extremists in the US, which could be a reason for the decision.
– We know that there are many Swedish right-wing extremists in the United States. There were a lot of Swedes in the “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville in 2017, for example. It’s just a hypothesis, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s behind it, says Hans Brun.
He believes that right-wing extremism has changed from being focused on individual countries to targeting Western culture instead.
– This means that American right-wing extremists are approaching European right-wing extremists. And many of the leading right-wing extremists in Europe are Swedes.
Unusual decision
According to Brun, the decision to classify a Western European organization as a terrorist from the American side is unusual.
– I can’t now off the record that it has happened particularly often, says Hans Brun and adds:
– There was enormous resistance from the American side to classifying the IRA as a terrorist, for example.