Slovenskí Branci: a military hobby or armed threat?

For at least seven years, an unofficial but yet uniformed paramilitary group is has been recruiting young men around Slovakia. To protect Slovakia, to help “civilians” at times of catastrophes or to teach children. All of this in using narratives that haved been changinged during over the years, from far-right to pro-Russian. And with interesting people who support thes organization.

The organization called Slovenskí Branci (SB) celebrated their 7th anniversary in January, but its history is actually quite rich – it started as unregistered, unofficial group, since the beginning was closely related to another far-right organization –  Slovenské Hnutie Obrody.

Slovenskí Branci were also seen in 2012 at the memorial service for Jozef Tiso, the president of a Slovak clero-fascist regime. Later, the leader of the organization Peter Švrček distanced Branci from this event and agreed that it was a mistake. On the other hand, he said for the media that he would not share his personal opinion.

Another controversy has been aroused by the very logo of this paramilitary organization. It is very similar to that of the Nazi youth organization Hitlerjugend. In reaction, Slovenskí Branci told the media they were distancing themselves from “the sick ideals of Nazism and fascism”.

When the paramilitary organization was being formed, the leader of Slovenskí Branci underwent training with a Russian militia Narodny Sobor. During his three-week stay in Russia, Švrček was trained by ex-Specnz soldiers and he quickly started to pass his experience to other members of the group.

After his return, some of the members had a problem with the direction in which the organization was going. As a result, many members quit. The main reason why they left was how the leaders practiced the organization’s rule of no politics inside. Even though there was no direct political agitation, anti-NATO and “Slavic union” ideas are very strong, at least among the leadership. The speech of Ján Čarnogurský (leader of a Slovak-Russian Society) at their annual celebration march is a very fresh proof that the organization is not very serious about the ‘no politics’ rule. His view on which side SB would fight on in a real war was clear – they would be on the side of the Russian Federation.

In the recent years, we can see that the ranks of Slovenskí Branci supporters include mainly people who are politically oriented towards the East. Besides Čarnogurský, those worth mentioning include a leader of the Russian biker gang Night Wolves – Europe, Jozef Hambálek. Members of SB have also undergone training involving an armoured personnel carrier at Night Wolves’ Slovakian headquarters. Švrček was invited to the opening party of the headquarters, together with representatives of the Russian embassy.

Some members of Slovenskí Branci guarded an asylum seeker camp in Slovakia during the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015. The whole act with self-appointing themselves as guardians was more PR for the SB than a real job, as the asylum seekers were free to move and did not have to stay inside the camp. Just shortly before, they pulled another publicity stunt when they were allowed to teach children in a school near Nitra about guns, grenades, first aid and the history of Slavic countries. In reaction, the ministry of education recommended that principals should not let Slovenskí Branci do this again.

SB ex-member Martin Keprta was in Donbass during the war in Ukraine. Keprta joined the pro-Russian resistance and fought on their side. He is now living in east Ukraine. SB once again distanced themselves from Keprta and told the media that Keprta had left the organization a few months before he left for Ukraine.

How they operate

The organization and operations of Slovenskí Branci are very similar to those of a regular army. They have created an internal hierarchy with defined ranks, they group their members into units, or divisions, the number of which has now reached seventeen. Members are recruited regularly and undergo training which is inspired by Slovak armed forces. Recruits are trained in survival, combat tactics, guerilla warfare, use of weapons, first aid, topography and even basic CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense) operations.

The main focus of their recruitment are young teenagers, often fans of militaria or military-like sports such as air soft guns or paintball. Teenagers are very vulnerable to sneaky and slowly accumulating propaganda, as well as peer pressure that is present between members. Filip, a young member of SB could serve as an example. His activity on Facebook has been uncovered by bloger Ján Benčík. Filip shares quotes from Jozef Tiso, the clero-fascist president of Slovakia. On the other hand, he is an admirer of Putin and Russian army. He follows anti-refugee and anti-Muslim propaganda and is an admirer of the far-right party Kotleba.

In Slovenskí Branci, members are encouraged to wear military clothing and apparel. Members are often mistaken for regular army personnel during their events, which include exercises and ceremonies. As can be seen from many of their photos on social networks, their look is almost indistinguishable from army soldiers for a layman. During 2019, the Ministry of Defense has pushed new law into national council that will ban wearing such similar uniforms. Apart from uniforms, members can be seen with air soft guns or expansion guns, which cannot shoot live ammunition, but some SB members do  own and train with real guns. Even though SB claim on their website that live ammunition shooting exercises are not part of the training process in the organization at large, such exercises can be organized by individual unit commanders.

One of the commanders and second in command, Michal Feling, is a member of Slovak armed forces. Alongside with him, there were also other Slovak soldiers in the SB organization. In 2018, the Minister of Defense Peter Gajdos started an initiative to ban active personnel from getting into organizations like Slovenskí Branci. He even filed a motion to the General Attorney’s office about the SB organization itself. For those of army personnel who are politically oriented towards the east, these steps were considered as hostile against own country. Even though Gajdos stated that active duty soldiers cannot be members of Slovenskí Branci, Feling is still a member of both groups. He was even signed under an invitation to SB’s ceremonial march on 5 January this year, even though he did not attend personally.

Marching in the City Centre

To celebrate their seventh anniversary, Slovenskí branci marched through the streets of Trnava, Slovakia. They were accompanied by Ján Čarnogurský, a former prime minister of Slovakia and his son, a prominent lawyer and businessman.