US for first time designates white supremacists as foreign terrorist organization

The United States on Monday branded a Russian far-right group as a foreign terrorist organization, the first time it has targeted white supremacists with tools regularly used against extremists.

The State Department said that the Russian Imperial Movement runs paramilitary training camps in St. Petersburg and has drawn neo-Nazis from across the Western world.

“This is the first time the United States has ever designated white supremacist terrorists, illustrating how seriously this administration takes the threat,” said Nathan Sales, the State Department counterterrorism coordinator.