Mercenary troops in Russia: history, legal status of PMCs. PMC Wagner: everything that is known about her

MENSBY

4.8

The protection of ships from pirates, the elimination of a cell of a terrorist organization, larger-scale military operations - all this is the sphere of activity of modern PMCs. As a rule, these guys do not know fear, have serious training and extensive experience in participating in hostilities.

In the unstable geopolitics of the modern world, PMCs have become one of the most popular and effective tools in solving the military problems of many states. Private military companies have proved indispensable in special operations where it is not possible to use a conventional military contingent.

Protecting ships from pirates, the combat mission of eliminating a cell of a terrorist organization in another country, or even larger-scale military operations - all this is the sphere of activity of modern PMCs. As a rule, these guys do not know fear, have serious training and extensive experience in participating in hostilities.

Many of these organizations have offices around the world, others work with the UN as a security guarantor. They speak about their work in a variety of tones, but we will talk about the 10 most famous PMCs in the world.

#1 Academy (Blackwater)

A country: USA

Number: over 20,000 mercenaries.

Specialization: support for coups d'état and the established regime in countries where the American military contingent has been deployed. Many unofficial sources claim that this PMC works with arms smuggling and guards drug trafficking coming from the Middle East.

The loudest operations: Iraq, Baghdad, 2007.

In 1997, two Marines decided to create their own security company, ready to take on any job if it was well paid. Thus, one of the most famous PMCs in the world, Blackwater, appeared. The killing of civilians, arms smuggling, drug trafficking and coup d'état - as it turned out, many were willing to pay for the provision of such services, including the governments of entire countries.

It all started in 2002 when Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) received its first major contract from the CIA. Twenty brave thugs arrived in Afghanistan to guard the employees of the department, who announced the hunt for "terrorist # 1" - Osama bin Laden.

At the end of the six-month mission, the company generated $5.4 million. But the main thing here was not money, but the connections that the PMC acquired. After all, since then and to this day, the main customer of Blackwater has been the American intelligence services. And it was from that moment that Blackwater's reputation began to acquire notoriety, forcing the company's management to change its name twice. Today they refer to themselves as Academi.

Second large order Blackwater operatives complied the very next year. In May 2003, they were hired to guard US State Department employees in Iraq. As a result, the thugs hit the jackpot in 21.4 million dollars. But the most interesting was ahead of them.

Blackwater gained worldwide fame on September 16, 2007. In the central square of Baghdad, mercenaries exchanged fire, as a result of which 17 civilians and 18 others were seriously injured. A scandal erupted. And although there were children among the victims, the thugs did not suffer any serious punishment.

The Iraqi government tried to expel PMCs from the country, but to no avail. The very connections that Blackwater secured in 2002 had an effect. Refusal to extend the contract - that was the official reaction of the customer - the US government.

Subsequently, it turned out that the company's employees from 2005 to 2007 participated in 195 shootouts. In 84% of cases, mercenaries did not hesitate to open fire to kill, despite the right to use weapons only for the purpose of self-defense.

№2 G4S (Group 4 Securicor)

A country: Great Britain

Number: more than 500,000 people

Specialization: transportation of valuables and Money, as well as a complete set of private security services. Protection of strategic facilities and major international events, such as sports olympiads; escorting prisoners on behalf of the police.

The loudest operations: Between 2004 and 2011 swallowed up seven of its competitors.

The largest PMC in the world, represented in 125 countries. For comparison, the British army is 180,000 people. The headquarters is located in London.

G4S employees are hired to provide security at airports and escort prisoners on behalf of the police. The firm's clients include not only corporations, financial institutions and governments of sovereign states, but also airports, seaports, logistics and transport providers, as well as individuals.

In hot spots, British mercenaries are officially engaged in clearing ammunition, training personnel and guarding rail traffic. In 2011, the company's management signed the UN Global Compact, which is international standard promoting business conduct, including occupational health and safety, human rights, anti-corruption and environmental protection.

Group 4 Securicor's most notorious victories were not on the battlefield, but, strange as it may sound, in business. Between 2004 and 2011 PMC swallowed up seven of its competitors. It expanded its activities to include not only security measures, but also the production of gadgets and security systems, which are now imported by the company around the world. Despite the fact that the company positions itself as a PMC, there is no information about the company's participation in military operations. But there is its own index on the international stock exchange.

#3 MPRI International (Military Professional Resources) Inc.

A country: USA

Number: 3,000 people

Specialization: MPRI International provides training programs for special forces personnel. Assists governments in developing effective information analysis, provides support for research and evaluation public opinion.

The loudest operations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1994. Preparation of the "Balkan Blitzkrieg".

"Learn to kill professionally." The company, created by 8 former officers of the US Armed Forces, has become a kind of springboard for the training of special forces soldiers, providing a wide range of services for governments and armed forces in 40 countries of the world.

But the real profit of the American PMC comes from working in the thick of modern global conflicts. Throughout their history, MPRI International mercenaries have managed to take part in almost all armed conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East, South America and Africa.

In February 1994, MPRI thugs, on behalf of the US State Department, facilitated a treaty between Croats and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under pressure from mercenaries, the leaders of the warring parties were forced to sign an agreement providing for military opposition to the Serbs.

Subsequently, the PMC, consisting of retired American officers, was able to quickly train the top-level military of the armies of Croatia and Bosnia, as well as develop and implement an effective system of operational communications between NATO headquarters and troops, which ultimately affected the successful outcome of the so-called "Balkan blitzkrieg".

After the end of the active phase of the conflict, the company continued to work with the Kosovo Liberation Army, then worked with the Albanian armed groups in Macedonia in 2000-2001 and government forces in Liberia and Colombia.

And in 2001, at the initiative of the US Department of Defense, the thugs of MPRI International went to Georgia to reorganize the Georgian Armed Forces according to NATO standards.

#4 Aegis Defense Services

A country: Great Britain

Number: over 20,000 people

Specialization: security activities in the aerospace, diplomatic and government sectors, as well as in the mining and oil and gas industries. The company also provides armed personnel services for the US government and UN missions.

The loudest operations: Iraq, 2005

Representative offices of this PMC are open in Kenya, Iraq, Nepal, Bahrain, Afghanistan and the United States, and its headquarters is located in Basel.

Officially, the company's employees are engaged in security activities, but in addition to protection, the company also provides the services of armed personnel. As often happens, the main customer is the US government. Not without scandals.

In 2005, a video appeared on the Internet in which Aegis Defense Services employees fired on unarmed Iraqis. And although the company's management did not admit their involvement in the incident, the Pentagon nevertheless temporarily suspended cooperation with PMCs.

Now the PMC is fulfilling another contract from the US authorities in the amount of $497 million, which provides for security in Iraq and protection of the US government in Kabul.

No. 5 PMC RSB-Group (Russian security systems)

A country: Russia

Number: the main backbone is about 500 people. Depending on the scale of the operation, the number of employees can increase to several thousand through the involvement of hired specialists.

Specialization: conducting security operations, both on land and at sea. The company produces professional competitive intelligence and provides military consulting services. The RSB group also has its own The educational center where training seminars for military specialists are held.

The loudest operations: Gulf of Aden, 2014.

"RSB-Group" - today the main Russian private military company. According to some reports, the number of employees is about 500 people, but in large operations, the staff of the organization can reach several thousand. It is considered the most qualified and efficient organization in the security sector of the Russian market.

Officially, the PMC operates in areas with an unstable political situation. Basically, RSB-Group conducts operations in the Middle East.

The creators are professional military personnel, GRU and FSB reserve officers who have gone through more than one hot spot and have the highest level of team interaction.

The headquarters of RSB-Group is located in Moscow. Representative offices are open in Sri Lanka, Turkey, Germany and Cyprus. In addition, there is an office in Senegal that oversees West Africa and the Middle East, in which this PMC specializes and where it conducts large-scale operations.

At the international level, RSB-Group positions itself as a Russian private military company. The range of services offered includes the protection of oil and gas facilities and airports, escort of convoys in conflict zones and cargo ships in pirate-prone maritime areas, as well as mine clearance, military training, intelligence and analysis.

According to Oleg Krinitsyn, director of RSB Group, PMC employees have been providing services abroad since 2011.

“RSB has security firms with gun licenses registered outside of Russia. And Russian employees of the RSB work abroad in accordance with the law and the requirements of the state where our security teams are located. We use semi-automatic weapons of caliber 7.62 mm, 5.56 mm, armor protection, thermal imagers, night vision devices, satellite communications, if necessary, we can use UAVs, ”Krinitsyn said in an interview with Kommersant.

He also said that the first foreign operation of RSB-Group was the protection of ships in the Gulf of Aden from Somali pirates. It is noteworthy that the PMC has built its own tactics for the protection of ships, due to which the pirates simply changed course, refused military clashes, and even in rare cases welcomed well-armed military from the RSB on the ship guarded by them. Thus, PMCs manage to carry out security at sea almost bloodlessly.

№6 Erinys International

A country: Great Britain

Number: unknown

Specialization: The activities of PMCs are focused on providing security services, in particular, in areas of Central Africa with very difficult natural conditions.

The loudest operations: Iraq, 2003

British military company registered offshore in the British Virgin Islands. It has a number of subsidiaries in the UK, the Republic of the Congo, Cyprus and South Africa.

« Home support USA in Iraq. Since 2003, Erinys has been providing comprehensive support to the US government in military operations in Iraq.

PMC employees are former employees of the British intelligence departments and special forces.

The largest operation of recent years is the deployment of 16,000 guards in 282 points throughout the country in Iraq. A huge contingent ensured the security of pipelines and other energy infrastructure nodes.

In 2004, she was at the center of a scandal when, in 2004, information appeared in the press about abuse with the prisoners. According to journalists, the mercenaries violated the human rights convention by using severe torture against a 16-year-old Iraqi during a military investigation.

The company currently works closely with oil and gas corporations, extractive industries, non-governmental organizations and public services. Also, the American and British governments, and even the UN, willingly use the services.

#7 Northbridge Services Group

A country: Dominican Republic

Number: Varies depending on tasks

Specialization: security consulting and training, operational and intelligence support, and strategic communications. PMCs also provide assistance in the field of maritime security and the protection of natural resources.

The loudest operations: Liberia, 2003

"Every whim for your money". The main customers of this PMC are transnational companies and conglomerates, which are generous to pay for various kinds of tasks to protect their own business in different corners peace.

Northbridge Services Group is registered in the Dominican Republic. Offices are open in the US, UK and Ukraine.

The company "provides an efficient service designed for the needs of governments, multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations, the corporate sector and individuals."

Northbridge mercenaries assist law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime and unauthorized search for information, provide assistance in the field of maritime security and the protection of natural resources.

The volume of financial receipts in 2012 amounted to 50.5 million dollars

She gained worldwide fame in 2003 when she offered the UN Tribunal for $ 2 million to capture the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. But the proposal was rejected as illegal.

The PMC played an important role in resolving the armed conflict in this country. Northbridge Services Group took the side of the rebels, thereby ensuring the overthrow of the official government of the country and the further entry of UN peacekeepers into its territory.

No. 8 DynCorp

A country: USA

Number: about 14 thousand people.

Specialization: the widest range of security and protection services in the air, on land and on water. In addition, the company is a developer of security systems and a provider of solutions for military combat strategies.

The loudest operations: Afghanistan, 2002

PMC DynCorp appeared back in 1946. The corporation is headquartered in Virginia, but all operational management is carried out from an office in Texas. Over 65% of DynCorp's income comes from the US government.

The oldest PMC in the world provides services to the US military in several theaters of operations, including Bolivia, Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo and Kuwait. DynCorp provides physical protection services for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and trains most of the Iraqi and Afghan police forces.

According to some experts, the company is closely connected with the CIA and dubious transactions could be turned under its cover.

There are several major scandals in the history of the corporation.

Iraqi authorities accused the company and the US State Department of misappropriating $1.2 billion in law enforcement training.

In October 2007, a company employee killed a taxi driver in Baghdad, and in July 2010, DynCorp employees shot dead four Afghan civilians near the Kabul airport.

#9 ITT Corporation

A country: USA

Number: about 9,000 employees.

Specialization: high-tech engineering development and production of defense technologies.

The loudest operations: Latin America and South America 1964.

PMC appeared as one of the divisions of ITT Corporation. The organization itself began in the 1920s as an international telephone and telegraph company. After the division into areas, it became one of the main executors of orders from the US government in the defense industry.

ITT Corporation is considered one of the largest companies engaged in high-tech engineering development, as well as the production and implementation of defense technologies.

She became famous for her direct participation in the overthrow of regimes. Latin America, in the Brazilian coup in 1964, when the government of the countries tried to nationalize American companies, as well as financing the group that brought Pinochet to power in 1973.

In March 2007, ITT Corporation was fined $100 million by the US Department of Justice for sharing information about night vision and counter-laser technology with Singapore, China and the UK.

#10 Asgaard German Security Group

A country: Germany

Number: unknown

Specialization: operations planning and support in risk areas, security, consulting, training and advanced training, seminars.

The loudest operations: Somalia 2010.

One of the most famous German PMCs. Founded in 2007 by a former high-ranking German paratrooper named Thomas Kaltegartner. The number of employees remains unknown to this day. It has offices in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Chad, Croatia and the United Arab Emirates.

It is noteworthy that the German Foreign Ministry made an official statement that it does not control the activities of this PMC in any way and does not know anything about its activities in Somalia.

The PMC is known for signing one of the most resonant contracts with the Somali opposition leader Galadid Abdinur Ahmad Darman, who declared himself president of the republic back in 2003. In 2009, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed became interim president, and Galadid decided to strengthen his position with the help of German mercenaries.

The legality and official recognition of the activities of private military companies is a fairly popular topic today. This is especially true for Russia, where this phenomenon has only just begun to appear, in contrast to the West and Europe, whose PMCs have been operating for a long time. The effectiveness of such companies in hot spots has already been proven, the only question is whether they will be officially recognized by the state or not.

Sergey Goncharov, President of the Association of Veterans of the Alfa Anti-Terror Unit, said that the State Duma could speed up the decision on the adoption of a law on private military companies.

“To be frank, as far as I understand, such a law on private military companies has not yet been adopted in Russia. Although this topic has been raised many times, because our “main opponents” - the USA, Great Britain and France have private companies that are active around the globe. They do quite serious work, which brings its dividends to these countries,” Goncharov said.

At the moment, the issue of controlling the activities of PMCs is in a "stagnant" state. According to Sergei Goncharov, it should be addressed to the State Duma, which could introduce a relevant bill.

Jeeps with well-armed people are driving along the streets of the hot southern city. Severe men in military uniform are strikingly different from local soldiers - they are "white". But these are not peacekeepers and not the second coming of the colonialists. Private military companies have long been widely in demand on the African continent. To some extent, Africa can even be considered the birthplace of PMCs in their modern form. It was the era of decolonization and numerous national liberation and civil wars in African countries that created a huge demand for foreign mercenaries, who, due to their experience and the availability of military professions, were much more combat-ready than the actual African military personnel.

Since the 1950s - 1960s. the governments of young African states began to invite foreign military specialists to serve - both individuals and military companies organized by foreigners. Mercenaries were readily used by African leaders for several reasons.

Firstly, foreign mercenaries were much better trained than African military personnel themselves, they had extensive experience in participating in hostilities in various parts of the world. So, among the mercenaries who arrived in Africa in the 1950s - 1070s, there were many veterans of the Second World War, various colonial conflicts. Many of the mercenaries had a high-quality military education, some in the past were senior officers in the regular armies of various states.

Secondly, there has always been more trust in private military companies that are not connected by tribal relations and do not fit into the clan schemes of African societies. Many African dictators preferred to recruit foreign mercenaries for personal protection, who were trusted much more than their fellow tribesmen.

Finally, Europeans and Americans who served in private military companies have always been more disciplined and responsible warriors than their own soldiers. The Soviet press at that time painted portraits of mercenaries in very negative colors, but in reality, foreign "soldiers of fortune" who served in Africa, although they were not "dandelion boys", were still significantly inferior in "frostbite" and criminal inclinations to local soldiers and officers, even those who served in government troops and police forces.

The second half of the twentieth century is filled with numerous examples of the participation of foreign mercenaries in African wars. In fact, not a single major African conflict could do without them. Several mercenary commanders of the second half of the 20th century became real legends of the Cold War. Michael Hoare, Jean Schramm, Bob Denard - these names are forever inscribed in the post-colonial wars on the African continent. Michael Hoare, a former Major in the Royal Armored Forces of Great Britain, an Irishman, after retiring, he lived in Durban, worked as an accountant, but then returned to the military profession. The war in the Congo on the side of Moise Tshombe, the coup attempt in the Seychelles made Hoar, known by the nickname "Crazy Mike", one of the most famous mercenaries in the world. Former Belgian planter Jean Schramm retired to the jungle after his plantation was destroyed by supporters of Patrice Lumumba. Since that time, he devoted his life to participating in various local wars.

But the most famous mercenary was Bob Denard, a former French Navy soldier, participant in the Indochina Wars, and then a police officer in French Morocco. Denard also began his "wild goose" career during the war in the Congo against the supporters of Patrice Lumumba. For ten years, from 1968 to 1978, Bob Denard served as military adviser to Gabonese President Omar Bongo. At the same time, Denard continued to participate in various conflicts - the Portuguese invasion of Guinea in 1970, the attempt of the Biafran separatists to secede from Nigeria, the attempted military coup in Benin in 1977. Denard participated in a military coup in the Comoros, where he settled for fifteen years, becoming the commander of the presidential guard, converting to Islam and receiving the new name Said Mustafa Majoub.

The civil war in the Congo was one of the first examples of the large-scale use of foreign mercenaries in Africa in the second half of the 20th century. After the political independence of the former Belgian Congo was proclaimed in 1960, a conflict began in the country between Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, who adhered to leftist views and was considered a pro-Soviet politician, and his opponent, pro-Western Moise Tshombe, who declared the independence of the province of Katanga - the most promising region Congo, in which the main natural resources of the country were concentrated and a large European population lived. In Katanga, Tshombe proclaimed himself president and formed the armed forces - the gendarmerie, into which he invited several hundred Belgian officers and non-commissioned officers. Numerous white mercenaries from all over the world entered the service of Katanga, including Michael Hoare and Bob Denard. A detachment under the command of Michael Hoar, staffed by European mercenaries and pilots from among the Cuban Contras, in 1965 opposed a detachment of Cubans under the command of Ernesto Che Guevara, who came to the aid of the Congolese revolutionaries.

The second well-known example of the participation of mercenaries in African conflicts is the war in Angola. If Soviet military instructors and specialists and a large Cuban military contingent fought on the side of the pro-Soviet MPLA party, Holden Roberto's pro-Western FNLA movement and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA opposition movement enlisted European, Rhodesian and South African mercenaries to help. On the side of the FNLA, a detachment of the notorious Kostas Georgiou (1951-1976), a former corporal of the British paratrooper regiment, a Greek Cypriot by nationality, fought. Despite his young years, Georgiou was a very difficult guy. While serving with the British Paratroopers, the corporal was involved in a post office robbery.

Naturally, this was the end of Georgiou's official military career - he spent two years in prison, was released early, and then enlisted in the FNLA, taking the pseudonym "Colonel Tony Callan." Georgiou formed his own detachment, the backbone of which was made up of his friends - a colleague in the parachute regiment Nick Hall, an accomplice in the mail robbery Michael Winehouse and a cousin of a concubine Cypriot Charlie Christodolu, nicknamed "Charlie Shotgun". Nick Hall was given the rank of major, and Winehouse and "Shotgun" became captains in the FNLA army. Thanks to recruitment in the UK, the detachment was soon replenished with a hundred European mercenaries, mostly former British paratroopers. In the FNLA army, the Georgiou unit turned out to be the most combat-ready unit that performed the most difficult tasks.

FNLA leader Holden Roberto called Costas Georgiou a man of phenomenal courage. At first, the Georgiou detachment fought very effectively, but then the quality of the personnel deteriorated. Instead of former paratroopers, the unemployed and lovers of easy money began to arrive in Angola, who had never served in the army and refused to go to the front line. This irritated the already aggressive and cruel Georgiou, who began to ruthlessly shoot not only captured opponents, but also his subordinates. In February 1976, after the defeat of the FNLA, Georgiou was captured, and on June 11, 1976, a trial of mercenaries began in Luanda - 13 citizens of the United States and Great Britain. On July 10, 1976, Costas Georgiou, Andrew Mackenzie, Daniel Francis Gerhart and John Derek Barker were executed by firing squad.

In the 1990s, foreign mercenaries took part in numerous civil wars on the African continent. At the same time, African governments and transnational corporations began to even more actively attract private military companies to protect important objects, including political leaders, highways, and mineral deposits. Neither their own leaders nor transnational corporations trust the African military, knowing their level of training, and most importantly, their propensity to participate in various adventures and corruption.

Now the African market for security services is a tasty morsel for private military companies from various countries. There are American, French, Chinese, Russian and even Ukrainian private military companies in Africa. In 1989-1998 one of the most powerful private military companies operating in Africa was Executive Outcomes, which was created by former Lieutenant Colonel Eben Barlow of the South African Army.

The backbone of PMC employees were Boers - white South Africans, who, after the black majority came to power, were quickly squeezed out of the South African army and police. Executive Outcomes thwarted an attempted coup in Sierra Leone in 1995 by returning control of the diamond mines to the government. In 2015, Eben Barlow created the STEPP PMC, which trains Nigerian government troops.

The British company Sandline International, created by Simon Mann and staffed by former British military personnel, existed from 1994 to 2004, noting its participation in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Washington pays special attention to supporting American private military companies in Africa, considering them as a tool for asserting American military and political influence and one of the main obstacles to the penetration of competing states on the African continent. AFRICOM (US Army Africa Command), thanks to the presence of private military companies in Africa, has the ability to respond more quickly to a variety of challenges. If the use of a regular army outside the United States requires numerous congressional authorization procedures, then it is much easier to use private military companies to protect American interests.

Russian PMCs RSB-Group, Moran Security Group and some others are also active on the African continent. According to media reports, now Russian PMCs are actively working in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Libya. "RSB-Group" (also "Russian security systems" has a representative office in Senegal and is engaged in demining objects in African countries, escorting ships in order to protect them from pirate attacks.

Back in the 1990s, the first Ukrainian mercenaries began to appear on the African continent. At first they were pilots, then specialists of other military specialties were added to them. Now Ukrainian private military companies are trying to master the market of specialized services in a number of African countries. Thus, according to media reports, the Ukrainian PMC Omega Consulting Group recently opened its representative office in Burkina Faso. Hired military specialists from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are also active in Africa, including those with experience in the Yugoslav wars.

IN last years more and more actively declares itself in the market of military services and China. It is known that now the PRC is launching its military base on the territory of the small East African country of Djibouti, where there are already bases of a number of European countries. But in addition to the official military base where the PLA soldiers will serve, there are employees of Chinese private military companies in Africa. They carry out tasks for the protection of Chinese business facilities on the continent. However, given the specifics of China's political system, it is clear that all Chinese PMCs are affiliates of the PLA. The personnel of Chinese private military companies is staffed by former army and police special forces - high-class professionals who may well compete with their American, South African and European counterparts.

Private military companies and their employees - from owners and managers to ordinary soldiers - operate on the African continent for commercial purposes. They are involved in a wide variety of conflicts, often performing very unattractive tasks, but it should be noted that, in a certain sense, the presence of private military companies also contributes to the real maintenance of order in African countries. Thus, private military companies protect businesses from attacks by bandits, ensure the safety of shipping from pirates, protect natural resource deposits and enterprises. Finally, private military companies are making their contribution to the fight against international terrorism and various radical groups.

See the world, visit unusual countries, get to know wonderful people and shoot them, earning a lot of money along the way - the work of a mercenary in a private military company (PMC) is very attractive at first glance. But in fact, everything is much more complicated: some volunteers chasing a long ruble can return home in coffins, while others do not smell gunpowder at all. Special correspondent Alexandra Wigraiser, on condition of anonymity, spoke with an employee of one of the world's largest private military companies and found out why the semi-legendary Wagner PMC cannot be called a private military company, how the "soldiers of fortune" live and what they are afraid of.

Lenta.ru: What do you know about Wagner PMC? How and for whom does it work? Why is their existence allowed in Russia?

All information on the surface. Everyone knows where their Moscow office is located. Yes, this is the structure of Evgeny Prigozhin. Why is this private military company (PMC) allowed to operate? It's hard for me to understand. I can assume that it's all about the relationship of a particular person with a particular president. This practice has no world analogues.

If people are fighting for the country, then these should not be “green”, “yellow” or “blue” men, but military personnel. If people are involved in private security, training or risk analysis, then it could be a private military company. But PMCs cannot fully participate in hostilities. Because PMC employers and the state can have completely different goals. The state, for example, sets some global goals, and a particular businessman is interested in capturing an oil plant. And from whom? The Kurds!

What's wrong with the Kurds? Aren't they just as much of an adversary as any other in Syria and Iraq?

Kurds - the enemy?! Trust me, anyone who has worked in Iraq is praying for the Kurds. Iraqi Kurdistan, for example, looks like an oasis in the middle of the desert. This is an amazing place! The sweetest, kindest people without any signs of Islamic fundamentalism. Girls on the streets wear T-shirts and Capri pants, alcohol is sold everywhere, whiskey is openly advertised on the street! These are the most normal, most adequate, most rational allies of any adequate forces in the Middle East.

Offending the Kurds, fighting the Kurds is the worst thing imaginable. Moreover, the Kurds have a great attitude towards Russia, they love it. And now the activity of some chefs leads to the fact that the whole of Kurdistan (the Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian parts of it) simply turn away from the partner. Come to Kurdistan and see: they work there, there are Russian guys from PMCs. They do normal work, get normal money. There is cooperation with local security companies. They do a good job there without any "law on PMCs", without presidential chefs.

Kurds have a great attitude towards Russia. In Syria, at the suggestion of some close-minded supply manager, a political crisis is taking place, hundreds of Russian people are dying. This is insanity that needs to be stopped. I have worked in this area all my life and I can say what is happening behind the sign of "PMC Wagner" - this is not normal, this should not exist.

Is it possible, in this case, to call "PMC Wagner", so to speak, the Russian army in a different "clothes"?

This is not the Russian army. There is after all the well-known word "mercenaries". Any army officer is limited by certain laws and command hierarchies. And the Wagner... They just don't have the brakes that a huge inertial war machine has. Any order in the official structure would go through a huge number of instances - yes, stupid, but instances. And the Russian army is not going to fight the Kurds. Then no.

Another sad side: the personnel of the Wagner, to put it mildly, is of a completely different quality. And further on the points: the equipment and weapons are disgusting, the level of training is low, the effectiveness of command also leaves much to be desired - people are constantly dying there. This is well known in our circles. And therefore, the attitude of regular Russian soldiers and officers towards them is appropriate.

But there is another point that cannot be ignored. When a Russian pilot dies, he is buried with honors, broadcast on television, you write panegyrics and obituaries in your newspapers about what he, they say, was a good guy. And it is right. But here - through stupidity, through monstrous stupidity, more than a hundred people die. And what do they write about them? Have you seen this "troll factory"? “Ah, mercenaries, why feel sorry for them” - this is some fantastic level of hypocrisy, when ordinary guys from the outback are sent to die God knows where for money, and then they are buried in unmarked graves.

And if they were contract soldiers in the army, would it be better?

Certainly. First, it's a completely different attitude. Secondly, the army provides a number of bonuses. This includes citizenship, pension, and much more. And most importantly - the status of a legitimate participant in hostilities, as well as some kind of immunity from local laws. A soldier of the Russian army will not be handed over to a Syrian court, a soldier of the French foreign legion will not be handed over to a court in Mali.

And the PMC employee is a civilian. If Wagner employees had full military status, I personally would have nothing against it. For example, a man dies, and the mother can say to his child: “Son, your dad was a soldier, and he died as a hero, fought against terrorists.” Now what? Son, your dad didn’t know who did what, they didn’t tell us, he died when the dumb-headed oligarch wanted to wring out the oil field.

There was a precedent in history when the UAE hired about two thousand Colombians for the war in Yemen. And they even hid - like the Russian authorities - but they took them into the army, paid a very decent salary. And these were official soldiers in the service. So no, "PMC Wagner" is what in Russian is called "an illegal armed group", which is not clear to whom it obeys and is capable of provoking a huge international conflict due to the stupidity of its commanders. As a person who has been working in this field almost all his life, I support its development in every possible way, but such formations are harmful not only for the industry, but also for the image of Russia.

Why do you say that Wagner has a lower level contingent than the army?

Look, every person in our field personally knows someone who serves there, or someone who refused their offer. But nobody does not know a volunteer who would be denied admission by Wagner PMC. They take everyone: people with a criminal record, with alcohol addiction - everyone in a row.

It is enough to talk with their employees to understand: they are not only up to the level of the Special Operations Forces, they are not always up to ordinary construction battalions. Neither by the level of education, nor by the level of military training, nor by motivation. Again: I have great respect for those who work there. But let's be honest: professionals don't go there. Such a “wonderful” job, such an “amazing” opportunity to die even without a guarantee that your corpse will at least be returned home, they do not need. None of the Russians I know - those who worked in Iraq at the beginning of the 2000s, who are now working with Gazprom in Kurdistan - did not go there, because everyone understands that this, as they say, is a bad idea.

Does it happen that a private company conducts full-fledged military operations, and even with such losses? According to various sources, there could be up to two hundred dead among the mercenaries of the Wagner group.

Absolutely not. It is impossible to even imagine that now some Western PMC, official company, was in combat. This is absolute absurdity. There was a precedent with Executive Outcomes who were involved in several civil wars in Africa, but that was in the early 90s. Since then the world has changed.

South Africans fought in Nigeria a few years ago. But some large international companies were not involved in this. This is a specific situation when specific people are recruited for a specific job, whose activities are initially completely outside the legal field. Therefore, Wagner is, of course, not a PMC. You can call it whatever you like, but in the Russian criminal code it is called an "illegal armed formation." I have nothing against the people who work there - I understand their motivation, I respect them as professionals, but you need to understand that this situation is not normal. Nothing like this can happen in any Western PMC.

Doesn't Wagner PMC work in the Russian legal field?

Of course no. On what basis are people given weapons, on what basis do they conduct military operations? I'm not a Syrian lawyer, I don't know what the laws are. But, in my opinion, the "Wagnerites" do not work within the framework of Russian law, nor within the Syrian. This is, as you like to say, "an education that has no analogues in the world."

But why do people go there? A job with a very high risk, with the possibility of getting a corny bullet in the forehead or a term for mercenarism?

I have not lived in Russia for a long time, but it is obvious that there is only one answer - despair. The economic situation in your country, especially in the regions, is difficult. Many people have served in the army and believe that they can't do anything else. They don't really know how to serve. But at least they identify themselves as great warriors. Plus, you need to understand that a certain militaristic pumping and propaganda has been going on in society for many, many years.

So desperation, lack of money and qualifications, extremely high housing prices, lack of affordable loans - these are all factors. Even with such losses, I'm afraid there will be a lot of people who want to get a job at Wagner. Especially from small towns. Look at the well-known lists of casualties: there is almost no one from Moscow or St. Petersburg. These are all small towns where people have lost hope long ago. And the amount of 200 thousand rubles that a dishwasher in Britain receives makes people forget about everything and go nowhere, spitting on the instinct of self-preservation.

Well, with the "Wagnerites" is understandable. And what about normal PMCs? In the Russian media, mercenaries are portrayed as heroes rushing into battle on the most dangerous sectors of the front. How true is this image? What do private military companies actually do?

Completely not true. For a long time there have been no bearded guys with tattoos, dissecting in jeeps through the desert and firing at anything from a machine gun. 80-90 percent of business is absolutely standard stuff. We need to hang cameras, look at monitors, stretch barbed wire, provide drivers, technical intelligence equipment, and engage in analytics. The "bearded thugs" used to represent PMC employees are a minority, and a vanishing minority in this business. In fact, the work of PMCs is the work of watchmen, absolutely devoid of romanticism.

In general, there is a stereotype that the main work of a private military company is armed guards. But this should not be so: this situation has developed only because at one time Iraq and Afghanistan simply did not have a capable government and crowds of adventurers with weapons gathered there.

We have a lot of talk about the need for a law on PMCs, which would normalize their activities ... These conversations make me laugh. In America, which everyone nods at, there is no separate law on private military companies, and they do a good job. I don’t follow what is happening in Russia at all, but I often see what Russian journalists write about PMCs, and I laugh at it. I was taken aback by the recent situation in Syria.

Firstly, people died there, and secondly, everyone immediately began to tell: they say, everything is fine, these are mercenaries and why feel sorry for them. So. All this is said by clowns who have no idea what a PMC is and how it all works. Because nothing like what happened to Wagner PMC employees in Syria could physically happen either in an American, or in a British, or even in an Afghan company.

Let's just open our eyes and look at what a PMC is. I will decipher the abbreviation for those who do not know. PMC is first and foremost company is a private military company. An indispensable condition for its existence is the legality of activity. Now the most important and most needed person for PMCs is not a thug with a cleaver at the ready, but an approval manager - a specialist who monitors that all company activities comply with local laws.

And a PMC, by definition, cannot work outside the legal field, outside the law, because then it is no longer a company. This is a criminal organization, a gang - anything but a PMC. And when we now work in unstable regions and read the stories of various Russian propagandists, it first becomes funny, and then scary.

And hard mode is usually set?

In general, everything is maximally exhaustively described by the contract, which is signed in each individual case. But the main thing: any employee is completely subject to the laws of the country where he works. In fact, this is a four-component system: first, local laws, then the laws of the customer country, then the laws of the country in which the PMC is registered, then the contract. Each layer - additional restrictions.

And now imagine how rigidly this norms any activity, how great is the role of lawyers who must understand all conflicts, what bureaucratic colossus needs to be done in order to start fulfilling contractual obligations.

After all, even a contract is not an agreement on a page where it is written that company "A" protects the employees of plant "B" and there are two signatures. This is a huge, eight-hundred-page Talmud, which puts the performer in an extremely rigid framework. It even talks about standards of behavior, about sexual harassment!

But in Russia everything is still the same. Just one light from said: "During the second assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah, Blackwater played a key role, in fact, acting first as a barrage detachment, and then as the main force of the breakthrough." Usually I laugh when I read this, but then I wanted to find this person, take him by the scruff of the neck and ask: “Clown, what are you talking about ?!”

However, for some reason, this “four-component system” could not save Iraqi civilians from the tragedy when employees of the American company Blackwater shot civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad in 2007.

Right. I will not touch on what was there - this is a topic for a separate conversation. But contrary to the tales in the press, the participants in these events were tried, and in 2014 four were imprisoned. One for life, three others were given 30 years each. This is not an isolated case: the British are sitting in India, who simply accidentally swam into Indian territorial waters.

Under these conditions, it is ridiculous to say that PMC employees are "above the law." On the contrary, they are not only forced to comply with all laws, they regularly come up with new restrictions. Now even the language is being revised. For example, the term "rules for opening fire" is abandoned because it sounds too belligerent, it is replaced by the neutral "rules on the use of force."

As I said, the space for activity is constantly shrinking. In 2004, there was complete freedom in Iraq, but now Baghdad is doing everything so that only local mercenaries remain in the country. Now you can freely operate in absolutely non-existent countries such as Syria.

The conversations of our deputies and other experts that Russian PMCs will work somewhere will be frankly confused, but there is a complete misunderstanding of the situation and its context. In a few years, foreigners will remain only on large projects: the protection of embassies, key infrastructure, and then everything, without exception, will go to the locals.

Is hiring local a whim or a necessity?

I will give a simple example. Both in Iraq and in Afghanistan, PMCs always have local drivers. Why? It's simple: if a citizen of another country got into an accident or, God forbid, crushed someone, then they will simply sue him, or even put him in prison for decades. Therefore, they take a local, so that if something happens, they can disown him.

I remember only two exceptions. The period from 2003 to 2006 in Iraq, and from 2001 to 2004 in Afghanistan. Then it was possible to be above local laws, simply because they did not exist in fact. You flew in, there were no visas and passport control, right on the runway you received a machine gun and went to the villa with full “immunity”. But then in Iraq, for example, there was no state. There was the American ambassador Paul Bremer, the head of the occupying government and, in fact, the supreme ruler of Iraq. In that particular historical period PMC employees could indeed enjoy certain immunity.

Now the situation is fundamentally different. Without permits, licenses do not take a step. They banned the use of the PKM (Kalashnikov machine gun), then they took away the RPK (Kalashnikov light machine gun), we even have two SVD rifles(Dragunov sniper rifle) were confiscated. They left the usual Kalashnikovs and pistols. Only local contractors help out - they have access to government offices, they can avoid prosecution for minor violations, they know the language, local realities. And hiring them is cheaper - banal business logic. They can be paid pennies.

The only exception is US government contracts, which only recruit US citizens, because only they can issue the necessary form of security clearance. Here they have all the employees - Americans, even those who stand at the gate. Only due to this there is some kind of work, because it is simply impossible to hire a foreigner there. If there is no security clearance requirement, then locals will be hired. True, their qualifications, as a rule, are almost at zero.

We see the results, remember the recent attack on a hotel in Kabul (then, as a result of an attack on a hotel populated mainly by Western officials, 43 people died - note "Lenta.ru"). It is obvious that this hotel is the number one target for all the villains, but even it was guarded by local clowns, who fled at the first sound of gunfire.

But a local employee needs to understand: you live there, you have a family. Today you defend some foreigner for money, and tomorrow your family will be slaughtered by the Taliban for this. So even if you are a professional, there is not much to expect from you. The only exception is the Kurds. Here they are really beautiful. Firstly, the society there has a positive attitude towards foreigners. Foreigners bring money, not war. No one will hurt your family if you guard foreigners. Secondly, many of them are really literate guys, they know the materiel, they speak English well. It is a pleasure to work with them.

What is the current ratio of "militants" and organizers, managers, analysts in companies?

It all depends on the specific contract. But in reality, in many countries where there is a severe need for security, it is simply impossible to work with weapons. Nigeria is a monstrous, scary place, but whoever you are, you cannot work with weapons there. Mexico, where the cartels kidnap 50 people every day, you can't. The only way out is if an armed group of Mexicans will work with you, and at a critical moment you will be able to grab a rifle from their hands and begin to administer justice.

But in fact, always with any contract, the number of armed foreigners is less than half, and maybe none at all. Now it’s much easier to hire a local to run around with a machine gun. And the authorities will be grateful. As a result, we have a huge number of people who want to work and a very, very small and ever-decreasing number of vacancies.

How big is the market for private military companies?

The total industry in the world is 171 billion dollars. But it is already divided among very large corporations. All of the significant companies in this area over the past four years have been bought by multinational security players who don't know how to operate in high-risk situations.

Now in the West there are practically no small and medium-sized players in this activity. The market consists of international corporations and local regional contractors. The reality is that the market for armed guards, the one that you journalists love to talk about, is by no means growing.

On the contrary, it is decreasing every year. And the reason is very simple: no normal state will allow the presence of foreigners with weapons on their soil. How often do you see armed citizens of other states in Russia? Foreign guards with machine guns, pistols that protect someone? No! Any state, even such failed countries as Iraq or Afghanistan, is now bringing foreign PMCs into such a narrow framework that work becomes almost impossible.

Who do PMCs usually work for? To the state?

It's a delusion. Private companies mainly fulfill orders of private business. It is impossible even to imagine that a Western or even an Afghan or Iraqi large company would work only with the state, only for the state, and even in this form, openly participating in hostilities. Although state contracts are always very profitable - it is either the protection of representatives of a particular state, or the protection of embassies, which is very monetary.

What do states usually entrust to private military companies?

Intelligence analysis, risk analysis, protection of embassies and diplomatic representatives, security of various facilities, if we are talking about American contracts. Once there was a case when he instructed the PMC to guard the corps of military engineers of the American army - there were not enough forces in that region. Stories about some political assassinations entrusted to contractors are, of course, fairy tales.

Cannon fodder, assault squads - this is not about PMCs. It was all in the 60s-90s and ended with Sandline and their coup attempt in Papua New Guinea. This was probably one of the last times someone tried to hire a PMC for some semblance of hostilities.

Photo: Jean-Christophe Kahn / Reuters

But he was lucky to some extent: Denard did not die in prison just because he had Alzheimer's disease. By the 90s, all state games with mercenaries were over. The old man was dragged through the courts until he died, and no old merits helped. So in Russia, as often happens, they decided to pick up a forgotten trend.

But can't we say that Syria is the same failed state, like Iraq during the period of occupation by the Americans?

Essentially no. There's a funny twist here. If you look from the position of Russia, then this is a fully established country with a government and laws. beautiful state where happy people they idolize the president, they are devoted to him with all their hearts, they are very glad that the war with the Islamic State (banned in the Russian Federation - note "Lenta.ru") is over.

That is, there is no such thing that we came, threw Assad off the throne, put our supreme ruler. No, we supposedly respect Syrian laws and their authority. But if power and law are when "Assad allowed" another state to form illegal armed formations on its territory and use them in a war, then this is just an example of a failed state.

It is unlikely that Syrian law allows the creation of illegal military formations on its territory and the conduct of independent military operations by them. However, I am not a lawyer and I am not going to meddle in Syria.

For many "Wagnerites" the war is just a way to make money. There is information that employees receive three thousand dollars for a month of active hostilities and half of this amount during their stay at the base. How close are these numbers to reality, and how do they compare with typical salaries in the industry?

Let's put it this way: they are close to reality. People from there talk about such amounts. But in general, you need to understand that even in hot spots, it’s not every day that evil terrorists with knives break into your base. The lower the risk level, the bigger idiots you can hire for this job. Therefore, often, when it is possible to hire a person, let's say, with low salary expectations, they will hire him.

It started back in the 2000s, when Chileans were hired for a penny, then it came to Ugandans. I worked with them in one African country - these comrades cannot even shoot normally from a machine gun. If there is an opportunity, and the risks are small, they always hire the cheapest ones.

Therefore, in the field of maritime protection, where everything started with salaries of six hundred dollars or six hundred pounds a day, salaries have fallen to ridiculous figures. Recently I saw an advertisement where Ukrainians were offered a job on the terms: 30 days at sea for $800. Discussed this in Iraq with a colleague from India and he, to tell the truth, almost died of laughter. Because it's funny money. But the Ukrainians go for it. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about some kind of average market wage. It very often falls because they hire locals or representatives of poor countries for pennies, including Romanians, Gurkhas, Indians, Ukrainians, Ugandans.

There are more prestigious contracts, where very high requirements are put forward for personnel. In this case, certain standards of payment are implied: for serious quality work, you can get about 10 thousand dollars a month. Few rise above this bar.

Is to compete for high level so necessary?

Recently there was a tender for the protection of the Australian embassy in one fairly "good country". So: just to show up, you need huge investments at the very beginning. Yes, they pay very decently for such a contract, but the problem of Russian companies is that there is no such business in this area that would be ready to go all the way and invest real money. There was an excellent example of the LUKOM-A company, which recruited people and was going to go to work in Iraq. They were simply not given a license to operate.

No one in Iraq or Afghanistan needs new players. It is run by local companies and the largest international corporations that can afford it. So the development of the Russian segment of PMCs will depend only on the development of domestic business. Once there is a critical number of projects to secure, the security business will emerge. You need to understand that there is already a need for it, but it is not fully realized.

Watch the most egregious case - murder Russian ambassador in Ankara. Where were his guards? She just wasn't there. She was in Moscow. The division that deals with the security of the diplomatic corps is simply not able to provide protection to everyone who needs it. All countries employ private security specialists for these tasks.

But our state, instead of supporting the development of a normal healthy industry, is engaged in the creation of pocket illegal formations like Wagner. At the same time, Russian diplomatic representatives in countries with a huge level of danger are simply not protected by anyone. If this crazy practice continues, it will continue to cost the lives of Russian diplomats.

The company was founded by a retired US Navy Special Forces officer Eric Prince. It has at its disposal a modern training ground, helicopters, boats and patrol ships, which are used by the US Coast Guard. It builds training complexes to train its own employees, and also works under contract with the US Armed Forces and special services, training their personnel.

Former Blackwater became widely known after the incident in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April 2003, when its employees came into conflict with the local population, which provoked the opening of fire. As a result of the clash, 4 employees of the company were captured by extremists and brutally killed. In response, the troops of the united coalition launched an assault on the city, which led to numerous casualties among the civilian population. In 2007 alone, she received more than $1 billion from the US government for carrying out special assignments on Iraqi territory. Has a representative office in Tashkent.

Kellogg, Brown and Root(USA)

It is a structural division of the company of the former US Vice President Dick Cheney Halliburton, actively participated in the Yugoslav conflict - as a logistics company and as the main structure for training personnel for the local police. He is also engaged in the protection of oil fields and industrial facilities in Iraq.

Groupe-EHC(France)

Created in 1999 by former officers of the French army. The first French military company to have a presence in the United States. The company operates in high-risk regions, primarily in the former French colonies and African countries. He has experience in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Poland.

MPRI International (Military Professional Resources) Inc.(USA)

Provides a wide range of end-to-end services for the US military and foreign governments in more than 40 countries. The company provides training and support programs for special forces personnel, programs to stabilize conflict situations in various regions, education and training services in the management of personnel of state military structures, analytical support for special operations, etc. Conducts security programs in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bosnia, Equatorial Guinea.

In addition to the main functions of MPRI International, it assists government agencies in developing strategies for the effective analysis of information, support in conducting research and assessing public opinion. As well as a program to combat corruption, which includes the creation and operation of a special institute of inspectors general in each ministry and department to identify corruption manifestations, both in stable and unstable conditions.

On currently the company is managed by the general K. Vuono, former Chief of Staff of the Expeditionary Forces of the US Armed Forces during operations in Panama and Desert Storm, and General E. Soyster, former head of the DIA - US military intelligence.

Participation in conflicts

PMCs have participated in almost all modern global conflicts. In February 1994, the Bosnian Muslim presidents Aliya Izetbegovic and Croatia Franjo Tudjman were forced under US pressure to sign an agreement on the cessation of hostilities between Croats and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the war of 1993-94), while assuming obligations of military opposition to the Serbs. The implementation of the provisions of this agreement was monitored by the private military company MPRI on behalf of the US State Department.

The PMC, consisting of retired American officers, was able to quickly train the top-level military of the armies of Croatia and Bosnia. Of course, a fairly high share of the military success of the offensive operations carried out by Croatian and Bosnian troops in the spring-autumn of 1995 (the so-called "Balkan Blitzkrieg") against the Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina is the merit of specialists from private military companies directly involved in the conflict. Another, no less famous PMC DYNCORP Inc. actively participated in police operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo.

During the Yugoslav conflict in 1994, MPRI International organized the training of the highest command level of the armed formations of Croatia and Bosnia, developed and implemented an effective system of operational communications between NATO headquarters and troops.

The MPRI played a key role in organizing the bloody Croatian Army Operation Storm in Serbian Krajina in the spring and autumn of 1995.

After the end of the active phase of the conflict, the company continued to work with the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army), then worked with the Albanian armed groups in Macedonia in 2000-2001, government forces in Liberia and Colombia.

Thus, the United States, without officially intervening in the political process, has achieved impressive results. Under the reserve officer training program, MPRI employees work in military educational institutions as teachers and administrators. The company's specialists have prepared teaching aids for the Pentagon on interaction with PMCs during military operations. The company's specialists are engaged in the selection of weapons and their purchase (including the preparation and implementation of contracts), the reform of the Georgian Armed Forces according to the brigade model adopted in most NATO countries, the training of soldiers and non-commissioned officers (including and on the basis of "Camp Yankee" in Kuwait before being transferred to Iraq as members of the coalition forces), training staff officers, developing Georgian military doctrine, manuals and training programs for military personnel, conducting military exercises, developing plans for military operations against independent South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The real Klondike for PMCs was the NATO wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The main income for PMCs was logistics, and about $138 billion was spent on logistics for a military company in Iraq.

By 2008, the number of the American military contingent in Iraq was 160 thousand people, and there were about 180 thousand PMC employees.

Many times, PMCs have been criticized for excessive cruelty towards the civilian population. One of the most famous incidents involving mercenaries took place on September 16, 2007 in Baghdad. At that time, Blackwater employees were part of an escort with diplomats from the US State Department. Suddenly, a shootout began (more precisely, execution), as a result of which 17 civilians died.

There are several versions of the reasons for the situation. Of course, the employees of the company are justified by the fact that an explosive device was used next to them and fire was opened in self-defense. According to the Iraqis, there was no attack on the convoy, and the escorts simply lost their nerve after a car passing by the convoy refused to stop at the request of an Iraqi policeman.

The result of the massacre was the deprivation of the company's license as much as a whole week. The investigation found no evidence of an attack on the convoy. The Iraqi government initiated the withdrawal of Blackwater employees from the country, then, after some time, the contract was renewed. Subsequently, the company was disbanded to re-establish itself under a different name. Blackwater is now known as Academi and continues to operate successfully throughout the world.

The inhuman treatment of civilians is far from the only accusation that was brought against PMCs: the structures were also suspected of money laundering, arms smuggling, not to mention the performance of secret illegal tasks from the special services.

With money laundering, everything is quite simple: the funds that fall into the disposal of companies are colossal, it is extremely difficult to trace on the spot where this or that cash flow is directed. Money directly "on the ground" can be written off anywhere: sunk losses, out-of-service weapons, medical needs, etc., etc. The list can be continued indefinitely.

One of the brightest specialists in masterful money laundering was former US Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. From a long list of accusations against him (none of which, of course, has been proven), we will mention only one: an audit of Kellog Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Dick Cheney's oil service corporation Halliburton, revealed an overstatement of $ 67 million in a project to create in Iraq chain of cafeterias for the US military.

PMCs at war in Donbass

Since the coup d'état in Ukraine in 2013, the country has naturally become the arena of a hidden confrontation between Western states led by the United States and Russia. Throughout civil war in Ukraine, rumors constantly pop up in the press about the participation of Western PMCs in the conflict. PMCs have become the main weapon of the West in this war. And although there is no evidence of direct participation in the hostilities of PMC employees, there are grounds for suspecting them of being interested in a certain outcome.

Ukraine has long attracted such companies due to its peculiarities, in particular, due to geographical location. For example, Odessa has become one of the largest transit points for basing individuals participating in hostilities. In this regard, foreign PMCs were active here up to the opening of their own representative offices. But since the beginning of the events of 2013-2014, Ukraine has ceased to be just a transit point, turning into an unplowed field of numerous orders from both Western structures and local political and economic elites pursuing their own interests.

An interesting rumor circulated in mid-April 2014, when militia units in the Southeast scored a number of military successes: then, according to unconfirmed reports, 20 US citizens were detained in the Donbass.

Of course, it was not about American volunteers who believed in the bright ideals of the Maidan, but about professionals from PMCs. It was unofficially reported that the return of the Americans was one of the topics of the visit of CIA head John Brennan.

The hiring of PMC employees is often mentioned along with the name of the odious Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. Against the background of the available data about his de facto personal armies, it was not surprising to hear about the hiring of Western PMCs by him. The open mentions the hiring of about 300 specialists from Academi and its affiliate GreystoneLimited. The main source of information was a certain contact from the SBU, so it is extremely difficult to verify the reliability of the information. However, it is indicative that the “duck” was soon exposed by the most honest and impartial media in the world - Radio Liberty. The counterarguments put forward were accompanied by broken references and a mocking manner of narration. Why it was necessary to refute the already unconfirmed information is not clear.

Among the PMCs that are credited with activities in Ukraine, there is also a PMC led by a Pole Jerzy Dzhevulsky. He reportedly received counterterrorism training in the United States and Israel. According to rumors, it was his employees who participated in the preparation of the operation to encircle and conduct a police mission in the regions of Slavyansk.

At the end of 2014, the media reported on the possible training of Ukrainian soldiers by specialists from a Western PMC. Even the specific place where it is planned to carry out training was indicated - the Yavoriv training center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Lviv region).

Who are they mercenaries, and where do they come from PMC, or Private Military Companies

Mercenary("soldier of fortune") - a person entering into armed conflict not for ideological, national, political reasons (and does not belong to any ideological group interested in the outcome of the conflict) and not in accordance with military duty, but for the sake of profit. — according to Wikipedia.

Yes, very different. From once upon a time professional military from all over the world (this may be a former GRU major, who was suddenly caught by the collapse of the USSR in Africa, after which a person who had nothing and no one in his homeland thought - “ but fuck it all with a horse, why am I really ...“, took and dumped), to the former combat swimmer of the Thai Navy (very harsh warriors, by the way).

The list can't be continued professional military. Here you and our former paratroopers, and former Marines US Army, and various . From former royals Marines Her Majesty the British Queen and to modest Swedish paratrooper, two meters tall and completely Nordic in appearance (in Africa, for example, these look absolutely enchanting). It may even be a Chinese (by the way, this is a rarity in the world of mercenaries) with an extremely murky biography and a gloomy reputation. Well, you can just end up with adventurers, adrenaline junkies, criminals and others who have nothing to do with the war and the army fuckers personalities.

That is, the spread is such that the correlation can be carried out and the answer to the question “ what kind of people are there?", very difficult. People are like people, there are two legs, two arms, basically two eyes, one nose. There is also an ass, for some, by the way, it habitually replaces the head. In short, people are people. Everyone comes in for their own. Someone just, and in order not to go crazy in civilian life, goes to mercenaries. Someone is bored with life, and he finds ways to keep himself busy. Someone tortured cats in childhood, then switched to people, but the laws home country they don't approve of it, but here they also pay for it. Someone simply from the fact that he could not find himself in life, and the skills are only self-mutilating. And someone, simply not knowing how to do anything, accidentally got into this audience, and having picked up everything on top, he's fucking sick of what is happening around.

In short - here is the occasion for a huge philosophical treatise on the topic " Mom, why am I ladsknecht? «

Accordingly, the assessment of this public is also a non-trivial task. Too wide spread. It may turn out that that shabby cat used to be a scoundrel, that inconspicuous uncle in " past life" went on the attack, shouting "Hu!" ( cry of american rangers ), but could joyfully jump overboard with a cry of “ Geronimo!» ( British mating call paratroopers ), but he could cheerfully lay mines under peaceful Jewish buses, muttering maliciously under his breath “ Allah Akbar…» ( at the same time, mug and biography may have nothing to do with any Muslims in principle).

So puzzle, who are these mercenaries?

The point is that to disassemble the phenomenon itself " mercenarism» in the modern context is impossible without considering such a phenomenon as PMC. Of course, one must understand that it is impossible to put an equal sign between these concepts. But it is necessary to understand that both of these phenomena are more than tightly interconnected.

To start, a little history. To summarize a little, the first PMC can be considered a whole country -. It was in those ancient times, when people merrily chopped each other's limbs for money in fierce fights on a variety of iron. The times then were fertile, not burdened by either European commissions or human rights courts. Therefore, the mercenary mechanism was regulated very simply - according to the laws of the market. There is a demand - there is a supply. And since they fought almost continuously in those days, both items were always available.

Switzerland was the main supplier of high quality mercenary infantry. Of course, incidents often happened then, such as buying up mercenary detachments almost on the battlefield (now this is not very common, because mass communications), but in general landsknechts and were the very first PMCs, under the roof of a growing and emerging state, which we now know as Switzerland.

Let's dilute the history with linguistics a bit

What is PMC basically? The abbreviation is deciphered simply and clearly - Private Military Company(in rare cases - Corporation). IN English version PMC — Private Military Contractor, in a more accurate translation - Private military contractor. And although everyone understands perfectly well what this means, they prefer the concept of a contractor. Almost like a Tajik builder. Sounds more peaceful, and does not cause fierce take it easy citizens who can't imagine how can this war be a private matter? And as practice shows, it can very well.

In the end, the fundamental difference between similar to mercenaries public - pirates, of those times and now, lies in the fact that then it was a handsome and legendary sir Francis Drake in the service of the British crown, with a snow-white sailboat and " noble tales" about him. And now it's bare-assed hungry Somalis on fishing boats, in the service of their bosses, and censured by the world community. From appearance, the essence does not change. Both variants of IRL are just robbers at sea. And whose interests they defend there, this is the twentieth case. In those beautiful times, the interests of the royal families were defended, now private corporations. There is no difference.

With mercenaries, the same garbage is absolutely. So what's the point?

In order to understand this, let's move from the harsh shit and mud of the Middle Ages to the middle of the last century, to the region South America, and get acquainted with that rare phenomenon, which is now called Private Military Corporation (Private Military Corporation). There was such an office called United Fruit (United Fruit's), it was organized long before the birth CIA, and even before the occurrence OSS (predecessors CIA ), as far back as 1899, and for 50 years honestly served the interests of American colonial capitalism. Until, in the early 40s, she landed on the hook to the same OSS (Office of Strategic Services), which set a very modest task for a small trading company - to protect US interests throughout the region. Which way? And whatever.

There were no restrictions on resources and means. Bribery, threats, force actions, coups, punitive operations ( most importantly don't read United Fruit pediviki, rare crap is written there, and even flawed).

In short, no matter how, but the interests must be respected. And, of course, it was impossible to scroll all this openly. In those days, America was still embarrassed to openly and impudently climb into the countries of interest to them (yes, there were such times). Officially, the office was engaged in the export / import of fruits throughout the South American region.

By the way, it was this office that sponsored with money, personnel and equipment an attempt to return Cuba to the American protege Batista ( you can evaluate the level of scope - take and return your power to the island state). Those interested can google "Bay of Pigs Landing" for a deeper understanding of the amount of trash and frenzy that the small trading firm is producing. There, however, it turned out that the revolutionaries in Cuba already have a red-star roof, and the grief of the "paratroopers" along with United Fruit And CIA waiting for the most severe oblomaitis. After that, the office turned out to be so illuminated that it had to be turned off.

By the way, they turned it off for a long time, almost until the end of the 70s of the last century. Those interested can turn their attention to the fact that the disbandment and reorganization of a number of units " fruit empire"had a direct relationship with the now well-known US Secretary of State John Kerry, who (oh, suddenness) is currently the largest lobbyist of interests PMC in the American government.

So here it is United Fruit- it's basically the first PMC modern history. And it is on a corporate scale.

Because she had interests on the entire South American continent, and could defend them by any means available at that time, from air raids to land and sea operations ( nifiga itself such a private shop). However, having burned down, the office began to quickly wither and dry, and was quickly taken away into many smaller offices, both by the management itself and by “crisis managers” from the outside ( CIA).

And here it can be said that the dawn of an era began PMC

In general, until the early 80s, the very concept PMC basically absent. There were informal associations of mercenaries, united, as a rule, by experienced and charismatic commanders. The most famous and memorable can be called Bob Denard, Mike Hoare And Siegfried Müller (pedivikia and google to help you, the citizens are so colorful and interesting that in an unwritten book each would have its own chapter). Plus, there was a whole cohort of various groups that, for certain amounts, offered a solution to any anal and oral requests of geopolitical problems.

Let's do whatever president finish, the main thing is to pay accordingly.

By the way, it’s worth explaining that all this freemen existed mainly on orders from US and European oil companies, these are the so-called “ oil wars» 70s, when the African continent was violently torn apart by such giants, now known for their peacefulness, as Shell, British Petroleum, Texaco, and other players on oil market.

How do you know where oil and geopolitics. But defending the commercial interests of the native country, or rather a group of hucksters representing a certain country, with the help of the state military machine in those days was not accepted and not polite ( think, in times there were cultural and modest). And the armed forces were needed more than ever, starting from the protection of oil rigs and oil pipelines, ending with the "eviction" of local people who interfere with enrichment.

For those wishing to learn more about the methods of "eviction", I advise you to watch a good film " shooter» ( shooter) everything is told and explained there for dummies:

300 bodies buried in Eritrea. Men, women, children... Just under the tower.
k / f "Shooter" (c)

As you understand, the solution of such tasks required certain moral qualities from the performers. By the way, one of the reasons why PMC popular to this day. Not every regular army will agree just like that, for the sake of an oil rig, to stupidly cut out a clean couple of thousand people. And mercenaries do not disdain such part-time jobs. On the contrary, the more such episodes in a creative biography, the better. Customers deposit money more actively, and it is easier to deal with potential opponents/victims. Perhaps you don’t even have to shoot, they themselves will scatter with a screech.

But sooner or later, any informal and semi-formal freemen comes to an end. In the end, the same mercenaries for some time now began to represent a completely serious, and most importantly, an independent force in the region, and by the beginning of the 80s, not at all in one. As we all understand, no one will tolerate independence, in any form, especially when it comes to money. And if it's about MONEY, then there can be no question of any patience at all.

One way or another, but the freemen began to be pressed. Where by financial mechanisms, where by physical measures of influence / intimidation. And some were simply persuaded by the forces of colleagues / competitors, expired polonium. And as you know, A holy place is never empty“especially when it comes to money and resources. And it is natural that non-illegal companies began to occupy a sensitively empty niche. wild geese" And free shooters, A organized by PMCs.

An interesting point is also that the phenomenon itself mercenarism by the standards of international law is thoroughly illegal. And here is the activity PMC(despite the fact that they are doing essentially the same thing) is legal a little more than completely. What's the catch? But in nothing. Private military company Under the contract, as a rule, it performs only a security function. That is, from a legal point of view, it is an ordinary CHOP (Private security company). Yes, yes, yes, from the point of view of international law, a brave guy, to the very tomatoes and with on his shoulder, guarding an oil well belonging, for example, Lukoil, somewhere at the devil's horns, is almost equivalent to a pot-bellied uncle with a "security" patch on his jacket, sitting at a Lukoil gas station ( I'm exaggerating, of course, but only slightly.).

Both perform the function of protecting private property. But feel the difference!

It is clear that on PMC quite strict restrictions are imposed on the use and possession of various types of weapons. For example, there is a ban on attack aircraft, but it is easily bypassed by a number of offices operating in South America.

And as usual, there are so many loopholes in this case that it regularly gives rise to legal incidents. For example, when any private warriors riding tanks that don't belong to them at all. Where did they come from then? And they are trophy and " applied in connection with sudden occurrence of force majeure circumstances“, but they are not the property of the company. And to ride on unrequited nigers on them can be completely undead.

And what is characteristic, such "loopholes" the sea spilled. As a rule, they are all known, but the world community does not seek to cover them up. Which, as it were, makes you think.