AT LARGE
- Full name: Andrea Palmeri
- Pseudonym: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Ukaine, fmr Russia, fmr Italy
- Affiliation: Krutani, Cataldo and Palmeri Network [KCPN]
Andrea Palmeri (°1979) is a right-wing extremist from the Italian city of Lucca. He once owned a bar and acted as a leader of an ultra fan group of the local football team.1 Palmeri racked up convictions for criminal conspiracy, drug crimes, acts of violence and resisting the police.2 In 2013, he was involved in a bar fight for which Palmeri was eventually sentenced to almost four years in prison in February 2014.3 With another trial pending, he fled to Russia.4
In the months leading up to his flight, Palmeri had developed ties to Orazio Gnerre, a proponent of the worldview of Russian geostrategist Aleksandr Dugin.5 Gnerre was in touch with Albanian mixed martial arts instructor Olsi Krutani. Before long, the men formed the core of a constellation of likeminded individuals, including several former Italian soldiers. Some of them wanted to join Russian separatists following the 2014 outbreak of violence in eastern Ukraine and gave rise to the Krutani, Cataldo and Palmeri Network [KCPN].6
Somewhere in the first half of 2014, Palmeri traveled to Luhansk and linked up with local Russian militant forces.7 From the Donbas, he facilitated the travel of several of his KCPN associates. Palmeri and his companions fought alongside several rebel outfits, including the East Battalion [BV; Batalion Vostok] and the Ghost Brigade [BP; Brigada Prizrak].8 Palmeri took part in the fighting around the town of Debaltseve in early 2015.9 He eventually withdrew from the frontlines after having suffered frostbite on his foot.10 Palmeri stopped fighting but remained loyal to the Russian cause and began serving the Luhansk People’s Republic in several capacities.11
Palmeri continued to attract Italians to fight on the side of the Russian militant forces and served as a liaison between them and the rebel authorities.12 Palmeri was also used by separatist leaders to broker links to sympathizers in Italy.13 He reportedly became the coordinator of the Italian cultural center in Luhansk and started giving Italian language courses.14 In December 2016, Palmeri was granted citizenship by the Luhansk rebel authorities.15 He furthermore founded “Save Donbas People” and began delivering modest quantities of aid to orphans and other needy people.16 Palmeri continued to advocate for Russia’s cause on social media. He called for an Italian exit from the European Union and resistance to “American imperialism”.17
In the summer of 2018, Italian authorities clamped down on the KCPN and arrested six of Palmeri’s associates who had returned home.18 Prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him.19 Ukrainian agents reportedly made a dash into Russian-occupied territory in a failed bid to apprehend him in October 2020.20 On Sep. 29, 2021, Palmeri was sentenced in absentia to a five-year prison term for his role in the KCPN.21 He remains out of reach of the Italian judiciary.
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