Neo-Nazi terror group steps up US operations as FBI pulls back

Online activity shows the Base, headed by alleged Russian asset Rinaldo Nazzaro, sees US and Ukraine as key centers

Amid high-profile arrests in its Spanish cell, the American-born and designated neo-Nazi terrorist group the Base - once a major preoccupation of FBI counter-terrorism efforts - has all but faded from US headlines. But a flurry of online activities shows the group is still active stateside and considers the US an operational nerve center.

Headed by Rinaldo Nazzaro, an ex-Pentagon contractor turned alleged Russian intelligence asset, the Base has been busy of late pursuing European expansion: besides its heavily armed members in Spain, its Ukrainian wing is linked to multiple acts of terrorism inside of the country and claimed the high-profile July assassination of an intelligence officer in Kyiv.