The leader of an eastern European neo-Nazi group has been extradited to the United States from Moldova following his arrest last summer for allegedly instructing an undercover federal agent to dress as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children and racial minorities, prosecutors have said.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old originally from Georgia, was arraigned on Friday before a federal judge in Brooklyn on multiple felonies, including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence.

He pleaded not guilty through an attorney, Samuel Gregory, who requested his client receive a psychiatric evaluation and be placed on suicide watch while in custody.

Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili, who also goes by “Commander Butcher,” as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’”

They said the group’s violent solicitations, promoted through Telegram channels and outlined a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook,” appear to have inspired multiple real life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student dead.

Since 2022, Chkhikvishvili has travelled on multiple occasions to Brooklyn, where he bragged about beating up an elderly Jewish man and instructed others, primarily through text messages, to commit violent acts on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, according to court papers.

When he was approached by an undercover FBI agent in 2023, Chkhikvishvili recruited the official to a scheme that “involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” according to the Justice Department.

He later suggested narrowing the focus to “dead Jewish kids,” prosecutors said, after noting that “Jews are literally everywhere” in Brooklyn.

Describing his desire to carry out a mass casualty attack, Chkhikvishvili said he saw the United States as “big potential because accessibility to firearms,” adding that the undercover should consider targeting homeless people because the government wouldn’t care “even if they die,” according to court papers.

He was arrested last July in Moldova, where he was held prior to this week’s extradition.

In a statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the case was “a stark reminder of the kind of terrorism we face today: online networks plotting unspeakable acts of violence against children, families, and the Jewish community in pursuit of a depraved, extremist ideology.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — An exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine from their more than three-year war was underway Friday, a senior Ukrainian official said.

The swap had not yet finished, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Moscow did not immediately confirm the exchange was underway.

The Ukrainian comment came after U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had carried out a large exchange of prisoners.

“A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said on the Truth Social platform. He said it would “go into effect shortly,” although it was not clear what that meant.

“This could lead to something big???” Trump added in his post, apparently referring to international diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

White House and National Security Council officials did not immediately respond to requests for further details.

The exchange was agreed last week in the first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of its neighbor. That meeting in Turkey lasted just two hours and brought no breakthrough in international diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un was left fuming this week when he attended the botched launch of a new 5,000-ton naval destroyer.

The launch, at the northeastern port of Chongjin, was intended to tout the communist nation’s military advancement, but ended in embarrassment for Kim after the ship slid off a ramp and became stuck, state media reported.

The flatcar failed to move alongside the ship, throwing it off balance and crushing parts of the ship’s bottom, North Korean news agency KCNA reported. Its stern slid down the launch slipway, while its bow section failed to leave the ramp.

KIM JONG UN SUPERVISES NORTH KOREA’S AIR DRILLS, PUSHES FOR ENHANCED WAR PREPARATION

The total extent of the damage was unclear and it isn’t known if there were any injuries.

North Korea did not release photos from the scene, although satellite imagery released by South Korea on Thursday indicated that the ship was lying on its side in the water after the failed launch.

According to KCNA, Kim, who was present at the ceremony on Wednesday, blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for a “serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism.” 

Kim warned that the errors caused by the “irresponsibility of the relevant officials” would need to be investigated at a ruling Workers’ Party meeting slated for late June.

He said that restoring the destroyer before the meeting was directly related to the prestige of the state and the restoration should be completed unconditionally.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows a blue tarp covering a North Korean destroyer after it suffered a failed launch while it was being put to sea in Chongjin, North Korea, on Thursday.  (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Moon Keun-sik, a navy expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said that despite the embarrassment, Kim still wanted to publicly report on the mishap. 

“It’s a shameful thing, but the reason why North Korea disclosed the incident is it wants to show it’s speeding up the modernization of its navy forces and expresses its confidence that it can eventually build,” he told The Associated Press. 

Moon suspected that the incident likely happened because North Korean workers aren’t yet familiar with such a large warship and had been rushed to put it in the water.

It was the second naval destroyer the secretive nation launched in a month after Kim attended the successful launch of another 5,000-ton destroyer from Nampo, a port on the west coast of North Korea. Kim later watched missiles fired from the ship, with experts saying that it appeared to have been built with Russian technology.

Experts said that both ships are likely designed to carry weapons systems including nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.

600 NORTH KOREAN TROOPS KILLED WHILE FIGHTING UKRAINE, SOUTH KOREA SAYS

A report by the North Korea-focused 38 North website assessed last week that the destroyer in Chongjin was being prepared to be launched sideways from the quay, a method that has rarely been used in North Korea. The report said the destroyer launched in Nampo, in contrast, used a floating dry dock.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talks to military members as he inspects projectiles during a visit to an airfield in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Friday. (KCNA via Reuters)

Kim has framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the U.S. and South Korea, which have been expanding joint military exercises in response to the North’s advancing nuclear program.

In March, Kim oversaw tests of newly developed AI-powered suicide drones and called for their increased production. He was seen walking with aides on what appeared to be an unmanned surveillance aircraft that resembled the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude surveillance aircraft parked on the tarmac in the background.

Other images showed a fixed-wing drone zeroing in on a tank-shaped target then exploding in flames.

Kim has said that unmanned control and AI capability must be the top priorities in modern arms development.

Kim was also seen walking to a large aircraft with four engines and a radar dome mounted on the fuselage. Analysts have previously reported that North Korea was converting the Russian-made Il-76 cargo aircraft for an early-warning role to help augment the North’s existing land-based radar systems, which are sometimes limited by the peninsula’s mountainous terrain, London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report in September.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks alongside officials in March while overseeing tests of newly developed AI-powered suicide drones. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korea also revealed this year that it has a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that could pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S.

Meanwhile, North Korea has sent between 11,000 and 15,000 military personnel to fight alongside Russia in the war against Ukraine in its first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War. 

The South Korean military assessed that around 4,700 of them have been killed or wounded.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.