A former member of the Strasbourg Bastion Social, Xavier Maire, went to Ukraine to report on the Azov neo-Nazi fighter regiment, our colleagues at StreetPress reveal.
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Camille Balzinger
In the far-right magazine “Livre Noir”, the former member of Bastion Social, Xavier Maire, wrote a report praising the Azov regiment in Ukraine, as revealed by StreetPress. “This French neo-journalist knows Azov and neofascist symbols well. Xavier Maire, also known by his pseudonym “Henri de la Marchandise”, campaigned within some of the most radical neo-fascist groups in France,” our colleagues explain.
From Social Bastion to Ukrainian neo-Nazis
In Strasbourg, Xavier Maire was a member of Bastion Social, a far-right movement whose branch was based in Strasbourg (see all our articles). It was dissolved in April 2019 by the Council of Ministers, for “provocation of armed demonstrations in the street” and “provocation or propagation of ideas inciting discrimination, hatred or violence”.
Before being part of Bastion Social, Xavier Maire was, according to StreetPress, a member of the Union Défense Group (or GUD), a far-right collective, “made up of neo-Nazis trained in combat”. He was also “condemned for violence committed with the Zouaves Paris (a small far-right group dissolved in 2022) during Act III of the Yellow Vests on 1is December 2018,” the article continues.
