ABSTRACT
In the words of a Western far-right foreign fighter, his Central-Eastern European (CEE) colleagues “still go on territorial disputes.” In his view, “it is different in the West” where right-wing extremists almost seamlessly are able to unite against their capitalist, globalist or liberal protagonists. This surprisingly shrewd opinion from a pro-separatist combatant helps understand the seeming reluctance of far-rightists from neighboring EU countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary but also Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) to join the war in Ukraine. On one side, their extreme nationalism disables any attempt to join pro-Ukraine radical right units, spawning propaganda and imagery hailing past Ukrainian, and thus – anti-Polish/Hungarian/Slovak etc., heroes and leaders. On the other, their often anti-Russian approach prevents them from joining with their ideological brethren on the separatist side. This simplified macro analysis, however, only partially explains the seeming underrepresentation of the “local” far- right individuals in the conflict zones. Some have indeed traveled to Eastern Ukraine and laid down their lives in a conflict which should have hardly concerned them. The Czech and the Slovak contingents, whose members fought on the side of the separatists and many of whom are still living in Donetsk, clearly stand out in this respect, and their presentation will occupy the most prominent part of the chapter. At the same time, a look into an alleged, phantom pro-separatist Hungarian presence, an attempt by a pan-Slavic Polish organization to align itself with the separatists, and individual cases of Baltic (Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian) fighters who joined the conflict, will also be featured.
