Last Friday the latest in a string of recent extreme-right terrorism cases concluded. A teenager aged 16 from a village in Northumberland, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court for terrorism-related offences.
This means he will spend another fifteen months in custody in addition to time spent on remand.
He was convicted last month of membership of a terrorist organisation, known as The Base, collecting terrorist information, and sharing terrorist publications.
The jury failed to agree on whether he was guilty of making intentional preparations for actual terrorist attacks, including on a local synagogue.
International network
The Base is an international nazi terrorist organisation and it had been grooming this young man to commit terrorist acts since he was only 13 years of age.
He was arrested in February 2025 when he was 15. Police found airsoft rifles, which look like real rifles but fire plastic pellets, an air pistol, a crossbow, knives and components for explosives.
The arrest followed “an intelligence-led operation,” likely to be a euphemism for a Security Service (aka MI5) investigation. That agency now leads on investigations concerning extreme right terrorism though this is rarely publicised. If there is sufficient evidence, the case is handed over to the police to make an arrest and prepare a legal case.
Coverage of the cae in the UK media has focused on the teenager as an individual. The wider context has largely been overlooked, in particular, his involvement with The Base.
Few people will have heard of The Base. It is not known to have a significant physical presence in this country. However, the Home Office added The Base to the list of proscribed terrorist organizations in July 2021.
This list includes groups which may not be active in this country, but are known to be involved in terrorist activity in other countries.
First contact
The Northumberland teenager first made contact with the extreme right when he joined the TelgramSturmjager and SS Werwolf Division groups on the infamous internet sewer Telegram in 2023 when he was aged 13 or 14.
He ended up being a member of 25 extreme right messaging groups on Telegram, Snapchat, TikTok and Wire. In August 2024 he made contact with ‘The Base.’
After a while, the teenager was encouraged to commit acts of violence against those The Base regard as “pests.” Principally this means the Jews and other ethnic minorities. He was in contact with a man claiming to be the leader of The Base.
He told this teenager: “We’re willing to help you in planning, organising, giving you advice on where to scout for such pests, and guides on the most recommended ways of doing it.”
‘Have no doubts’
In an apparent response to doubts he may have had, the same user responded: “Brother, do not have doubts. You are doing a benefit, a good deed for your community.” He was accepted as a member of the organization.
Accordingly, he had access in their inner messaging group to more extreme and dangerous material that is not made public.
The teenager was told: “You are a warrior, brother, and we are very proud of you. We will help you with everything you need because you are a part of us, of the brotherhood of the ones that want justice, to liberate this world from the grasp of the sadists, and of their slaves, being the araboids, n—–s, gypsies which roam the streets without any care.”
Reference to Jews
The term “sadists” is a reference to Jews who they believe secretly control the US and other governments across the world.
Jews are accused of causing non-White immigration in order to “replace” and destroy the “white race.”
The Base was founded in July 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro, a former Pentagon contractor. The headquarters of The Base is in Saint Petersburg in Russia. Nazzaro moved there in 2018 with his Russian wife when he set up the organisation.
Since 2022 he claims that he no longer leads the organization but remains a supporter. Nazzaro claims to be just a “family man” and denies that either he or The Base have any connection with terrorism. He claims that The Base is simply a “survivalist” and “self defence” organization. He also denies that it is a Neo-Nazi organization.
Thin veneer
However, the veneer is a very thin one. Like many Neo-Nazi organisations, The Base has adapted symbols of Nordic pagan origin formerly used by the Nazis. Their logo uses three Eihwaz runes on a black flag shown in the picture below.
It also has a similar agenda to other such groups. The group promotes “leaderless resistance” style terrorism as a tactic in order to hasten the breakdown of society and the formation of white ethno-states. Nazzaro has used aliases such as Norman Spear to promote terrorist violence.
Glorifying mass murder
Like a number of other extreme right groups in recent years, The Base was inspired by the writings of James Mason collected together and published in 1993 in a book entitled ‘Siege.’
This advocated a strategy of race war to collapse the existing state and found a white ethno-state. It glorified violence including those responsible for mass murder.
The book was dedicated to Charles Manson. By contrast with Pierce’s ‘Turner Diaries’, it had limited influence at the time of publication especially outside of the USA.
However, since 2015 it has found much wider circulation. Although the Russian authorities tolerate The Base, Mason’s book ‘Siege’ is banned in Russia.
Tolerated
The Russian authorities tolerate The Base’s activities so long as the targets are outside of their country. Those such as the Atomwaffen Division that have done otherwise were subjected to swift action by the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Given the current political situation there is no longer any cooperation between Russia and many other countries such as the UK on security matters.
The situation has been made worse since the incoming Trump administration stopped the FBI from investigating such extreme right groups last year.
Internet platforms
The Base makes extensive use of internet platforms such as Telegram and SimpleX and Russian based platforms VKontakte and Rutube.
Such platforms do little if anything to hinder its activities. Its private chat groups, accessible only to members, are known to store bomb and chemical weapon making manuals and instructions on terrorist techniques.
An example of one of their online libraries is shown above. As a member, the Northumberland teenager would have had access to all this.
Most of The Base’s known activities have been in the USA and Canada. Its members have received explosives, weapons and terrorist tactics training in camps in those countries. The FBI has prevented a string of terrorist attacks involving members of this group in the USA.
Arrests in Europe
There have been arrests involving the organization in a number of European countries, including Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. It has carried out terrorist attacks in Ukraine. This is another reason why the Russian state tolerates its presence on its own territory.
Like many extreme right groups, The Base target youth, particularly teenage boys. Sometimes this takes the form of “grooming.” Such techniques are nothing new on the extreme right and long predate the internet.
Often those targeted, like this Northumberland teenager, are socially isolated individuals, bullied by others. The grooming process takes the intended recruit through stages to achieve the desired result.
This creates all manner of potential problems given the vulnerability of some of those concerned. It is often unclear if such teenagers are a genuine danger to the public as opposed to themselves.
Autism diagnosis
The Northumberland teenager is known to have had suicidal tendencies and was diagnosed with autism. He claimed to be simply creating a “online persona to escape reality” and as a distraction from such suicidal thoughts. He had a serious breakdown in the course of the trial causing it to be suspended for several days.
The tragic case of Rhianan Rudd who committed suicide in 2022 after being arrested for terrorism offences shows what can happen. She had also been diagnosed with autism.
She had been groomed into violent extremism by two Neo-Nazi terrorists from the USA.
They had been allowed into this country and later allowed out without any charges being pressed against them.
On the other hand, there are others who are exceptionally dangerous in spite of their youth. One clear case of this was a teenager named AB who like the Northumberland teenager had first engaged with the extreme right through social media at the age of 13. He was arrested at the door of the Inverclyde Muslim Centre in Greenock in January 2025.
Chilling aspect
AB had been intending to enter the building, force those inside to stay inside at gun point, using an imitation firearm, and then set fire to the building with intention of killing all those inside.
A particularly chilling aspect of this case is the way he had been befriending and trying to gain the trust of staff at the centre prior to his attempted attack, posing as a potential convert. It is therefore not an easy task to assess who is genuinely dangerous and liable to launch a successful terrorist attack.
Sadly, such cases are likely to remain common for the foreseeable future. The tolerance of extreme right groups such as The Base by both the Russian and more recently the US governments is one major problem.
Moreover, until social media companies take a more responsible attitude and work more actively to suppress the promotion of terrorism, the rise in such cases is likely to continue, including those involving minors.
While a great many potential plots are stopped, that has not always been the case, sometimes with fatal consequences. We cannot be complacent about the risk that others may succeed in causing far more deaths in incidents as has happened in other countries such as the USA, Norway and New Zealand.
