German Intelligence Says 61 Extremists Left for Ukraine Since Last Year: Report

BERLIN (Sputnik) - German intelligence is aware of 61 "extremists and politically motivated criminals" from Germany who have traveled eastward to Ukraine since the start of the conflict last winter, local media reported Saturday.

Of them, at least 29 are believed to be still in Ukraine, a German daily cited sources from the German security community as saying. The BfV intelligence agency did not say whether they were involved directly in the fighting and on which side.

The newspaper also cited federal police as saying that 31 of the identified extremists stood to the right of the political spectrum. A further 24 were classified as supporters of "foreign ideology or extremism," while a handful others were religious fanatics. One person was labeled as a left-leaning extremist, the report said.

The Russian Defense Ministry suggests that foreign fighters in Ukraine number in the thousands. It says it has evidence that mercenaries from over 60 countries have been fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces and sees their presence in the conflict zone as a form of Western support for Kiev, on top of military funding and weapons deliveries.