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- Full name: Victor Alfredo Lenta
- Pseudonym: “Anthony”
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: France, fmr Ukraine
- Affiliation: Continental Unit [UC], fmr Ghost Brigade [BP], fmr Languedoc War [LW]
Victor Lenta (°1988) is a Colombian-born French citizen from Toulouse. He served as a non-commissioned officer in a paratrooper unit of the French army between 2007 and 2011.1 Lenta did tours in Afghanistan, Chad, Gabon and the Ivory Coast.2
Lenta became active in right-wing extremist circles during his time in the army. He acted as a leader of the Toulouse branch of the Identitarian Youths [JI; Jeunesses Identitaires].3 Lenta was also associated with the Black Lily [LN; Lys Noir] movement.4 He was dismissed from the army in 2011 after his membership in the national-socialist Languedoc War group [LW] was revealed.5 He was furthermore suspected of having participated in the April 2008 burning of a mosque in Colomiers to mark to birthday of Adolf Hitler.6
Lenta remained devoted to right-wing extremist activism following his dismissal. He took part in violent confrontations with elements of the so-called Antifa movement.7 In March 2012, Lenta reportedly joined in a raid on a bar that left a Chilean leftist radical seriously injured.8 He also took part in demonstrations against gay marriage in May 2012 and the 2013 protests against ecotaxes by the Bonnets Rouges movement.9 In early 2014, Lenta got acquainted with Serbian ultranationalists during efforts to agitate against the war crimes prosecution of their leader Vojislav Ŝešelj.10 This campaign gave rise to an informal association of likeminded individuals headed by Lenta and Nikola Perović. They soon made up the core of the Continental Unit [UC; Unité Continentale], a network of French and Serbian nationals who had adopted a pan-Eurasian continentalist worldview.11
Lenta and his associates became enthusiastic supporters of the Russian militant forces’ cause following the outbreak of violence in eastern Ukraine in the beginning of 2014. In the summer of that year, Lenta and several companions traveled to eastern Ukraine and linked up with Russian separatist forces.12 He and Perovic eventually attracted about a dozen of their associates to the Donbas region. The UC was active alongside several militant groups, including the Ghost Brigade [BP; Brigada Prizrak].13 Lenta was furthermore in contact with elements of the Rusich Sabotage and Assault Reconnaissance Group [DShRG-R; Diversionno-Shturmovaya Radvedyvatelnaya Gruppa Rusich].14
During his time in the Donbas region, Lenta and his companions were very active on social media. They frequently distributed pictures and videos of themselves on the frontlines. The men soon became some of the best-known pro-Russian foreign fighters in eastern Ukraine. Lenta gave interviews to the Russian and international press.15 During one of these conversations, he expressed his willingness to “die for Russia’s values”.16 Lenta denounced NATO as the “armed wing of American imperialism”.17 He eventually fell out with Perović and returned to France after a stay of sixteen months.18 French authorities never prosecuted him for his activities.
Lenta became an active supporter of the Gilets-Jaunes protest movement in late 2018. He joined its unit of volunteers who provided security to the demonstrators. Lenta caused some controversy by wearing his army beret and military decorations.19 During one of the protests, police briefly detained Lenta for having helped put up a street barricade.20
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