However, the group's founder, Mika Ranta, has connections to the far-right and neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement as well as a criminal conviction which stems from a racially motivated assault which he committed in 2005.

According to Yle, Soldiers of Odin has connections to the Finnish MV-media alternative media website and has been promised good visibility on the site.

[19] According to IL and Meduza, Yan Petrovsky, Russian nationalist accused of war crimes in Ukraine, was also an active Odin member.

Additionally, Soldiers of Odin has a following in the United States, Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick), England, Belgium, Portugal and Germany.

[28] Their recruitment rhetoric included exaggerating illegal entry to the country, crime perpetrated by immigrants and the threat of Islamic terrorism, targeting mainly Anglo-Australian men.

[31] LaFace, who has since claimed to be National President of Soldiers of Odin Canada,[32] had previously publicly shared anti-immigrant sentiments[33] and made statements against the Black Lives Matter movement and the LGBT community.

[35] The group began patrolling in Norway in February 2016, which was profiled temporarily in the start-up phase by Ronny Alte [no], a former leader of the Norwegian Defence League and Pegida activist.

[40][41][42][38] The Finnish National Police Commissioner, Seppo Kolehmainen [fi], caused confusion when he initially welcomed the establishment of street patrols.

[45] It caused some controversy when Progress Party MP and spokesperson for justice Jan Arild Ellingsen applauded the establishment of the group, saying they should be "praised".

"[48] In spring 2016, the Finnish Patent and Registration Office accepted a request to register "Soldiers of Odin" as a trademark for clothes, footwear and headgear.

The owner of the trademark, however, has no connection to the vigilante street patrol group, and is using her brand as a statement against racism and to bring the authorities' decision to accept Soldiers of Odin as a registered organization into question.