Who are mercenaries, and where do PMCs come from? Private military companies: history and modernity

A few weeks ago, an announcement appeared on the social network Vkontakte: “Guys, there is an option to work for your homeland!” – read the first line. Salary “on base” is 50 thousand rubles per month, “for exit” – from 80 thousand rubles plus bonuses. In terms of conversion, this amounts to between 700 and 1150 euros. The announcement ended with the words: “Good fight, soldiers of fortune!”

The user who published the ad calls himself Ilya Ivanov. His job is to recruit fighters for PMCs, the so-called private military companies. And a lot indicates that last days he was very successful in forming a private army. He is looking for men who are ready to defend Russian interests on new battlefields for money in 2017.

A car convoy at the training ground in Molkino. The only soldier we managed to talk to replied that they were “coming from an exercise.”

Ivanov is not the only recruiter currently recruiting fighters, but he is perhaps one of the most experienced. Back in 2014, he wrote on his VKontakte page that he was looking for people who were ready to “determine themselves with adventures in hot countries.” At that time, the public still knew nothing about Russian soldiers in Syria, and Ilya’s activities were illegal. For recruiting mercenaries, he faced up to eight years in prison. Now everything has changed.

Little-known amendments to the law

Since many men in Russia have gone through conscript service, then the amendments to the law affect almost all Russians. Now, if they fight terrorists, they are considered military personnel, even if they do not officially belong to any part of the Ministry of Defense. In other words, changes in the Law on military service allow the use of Russian mercenaries throughout the world and legalize the activities of PMCs. On January 9, 2017, the law came into force.

Blackwater is one of the most famous private military companies, which, among other things, performed partly criminal tasks for the US Army, for example, in Iraq. When Blackwater's actions became public knowledge, it sparked a global debate about the legality of such firms. Russia did not stand aside either. Thus, RT asked the question in its materials: Private military companies: a new method of warfare?

However, today, when this topic has affected our own country, the pro-Kremlin media remain silent.

How do legal PMCs function? How do recruiters like Ivanov work? To respond to the advertisement, ZEIT ONLINE creates a fake account of Pavel Nikulin on VKontakte. Pavel is 27 years old, he works as an electrician in Volgograd. In 2010 and 2011, he served in military service as a driver-mechanic of the T-72 tank.

Conversation with a recruiter

Pavel Nikulin exists only as a virtual page on a social network. His biography and fake Vkontakte profile help to find out details about the recruitment and training of PMC fighters. Nikulin and Ivanov exchange several messages on the social network and call each other twice by phone.

Nikulin: Hello, my name is Pavel. I'm talking about the VKontakte ad.

Ivanov: I get it from work. Pavel, tell me, what is your citizenship?

Nikulin: Russian.

Ivanov: Finally. So. Do you have a military ID? Who by position?

Nikulin: Tank driver-mechanic.

Ivanov: Great! Look, Pavel. Let me tell you the matter first.

Ivanov says that tankers are “in great demand.” In addition, we need doctors, sappers and competent signalmen. They are also looking for helicopter pilots - they are not competitive. All other applicants must first pass tests and provide the required documents. The most important, and also the most difficult, condition is the presence of a foreign passport and the absence of loans and criminal records.

Whether Ilya Ivanov is the real name of the recruiter cannot be certain. However, two other sources who tried to become fighters in the PMC confirmed to ZEIT ONLINE that they also communicated with Ivanov. In addition, Ilya described in detail the route and terrain near the training ground where the PMC is training. The correspondence of the description with reality was later confirmed by ZEIT ONLINE's own source.

Polygon in Molkino

According to Ivanov, the training base for PMC fighters is located near the village of Molkino in the Krasnodar Territory. It is about 500 kilometers from here to the Ukrainian Donetsk, and about 250 kilometers to the Russian resort of Sochi. In 2015, the Molkino test site underwent modernization, for which more than 50 million rubles were spent. Officially, three military units are stationed in Molkino: 1st Guards Missile Brigade (military unit 31853), 10th separate brigade special purpose GRU of the Ministry of Defense (military unit 51532), as well as the 243rd combined arms training ground (military unit 55485).

Highway M4. A convoy of vehicles returns from a training exercise back to the training ground in Molkino

Legal PMCs existed in Russia before. The most famous are Moran Security Group and RSB-Group. Like Academi, the American successor company to Blackwater, these Russian firms offer services in security, consulting and armed defense and security. Although the companies declined to respond to ZEIT ONLINE's request, they claim on their official websites that they do not engage in mercenary activities or participate in military operations abroad. General Director of the RSB Group company Oleg Krinitsyn, in a conversation with the Fontanka newspaper, said that his company was not tasked with sending anyone to Syria, but if there were such proposals, he would be ready to discuss them.

Dmitry Utkin and Wagner PMC

One of the former employees of Moran Security Group later founded his own PMC, which is called the Wagner Group. We are talking about Dmitry Utkin - aka Wagner. Utkin served in the GRU special forces, after his dismissal he worked under a contract with the Moran Security Group, protecting ships in dangerous areas from pirate attacks. After his dismissal in the fall of 2013, he was part of about 250 “contractors” in Syria. Six months after the Syrian trip, he created the so-called “Wagner Group,” which took part in the fighting in eastern Ukraine and later in Syria.

In December 2016, Utkin even appears at a reception on the occasion of Heroes of the Fatherland Day in the Kremlin. Among the invited heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia, Utkin was one of the few guests who did not have such high merits. The fact that Utkin was nevertheless invited to the celebration may indicate that Wagner PMC fighters carried out important operations in Syria for the Russian army.

All military actions, regardless of whether they began on the Russian initiative or not, were used by Putin for his domestic political rating. Thanks to the positive presentation of the army and military successes by pro-government media, patriotism and pride in the country and its president grew in Russia. In addition, with the help of weapons production it was possible to support the weakened domestic economy. Moreover, when a country is involved in a war, problems like corruption no longer seem so significant. All this could also play an important role if new conflicts arise abroad involving Russia.

Ukraine, Syria - Afghanistan?

However, not all so simple. The first problem has to do with people. Now it is problematic for Putin to find enough people to fully conduct military operations, says Stefan Meister, an expert on Russia from the German Society foreign policy. According to him, Russia is currently involved in two conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, which requires a lot of soldiers and weapons. Even if we take into account that the troops have been modernized since 2008, their resources are not unlimited.

Meister believes it is likely that Russia will enter into new military conflicts in 2017, in addition to existing ones. First of all, from the point of view of the fight against international terrorism unleashed by Donald Trump, new mercenary brigades can help in this process, he says. A different contract is concluded with mercenaries than with conscript soldiers, because they will be hired by private military companies. This will make it easier to prevent the public from gaining access to this information, Meister said. This problem arose especially often in Ukraine, when the government had to explain why Russian soldiers were among the killed “volunteers.” If a PMC fighter dies, the Ministry of Defense can easily challenge its involvement.

The second snag is related to possible battle sites where PMC fighters are fighting.

Nikulin: Is this Syria?

Ivanov: This is already an old topic. Now there will be... I can’t say that, I think you can guess: in the 80s the army was there. Understood? There are also sands and mountains. There, then, a peacekeeping operation means protecting ambassadors and so on. They even give you a medal for a feat of arms. They won’t give you any more, because you won’t appear on TV.

Afghanistan? In addition to Syria, Ukraine and unstable regions like Libya, Russia may also intervene in the conflict in Afghanistan in 2017. But the negative image that is associated in Russian society with losses in Afghanistan, sits deep. As Meister says, this image is comparable to the "Vietnam trauma" of the United States. Today, even with the support of the propaganda machine, it will not be possible to persuade the Russian population to participate in the ground operation in Afghanistan.

The most important thing is money

“Today, only technical specialists and instructors are in Afghanistan, who are required, in particular, for technical support of Russian helicopters,” says Meister. Thus, in January 2016, an intergovernmental agreement was signed to provide military-technical assistance to Afghanistan.

“If NATO withdraws its troops from Afghanistan in 2017, then Russia may indeed be gripped by fear that terrorism will spread throughout the country. The Taliban could greatly destabilize its Central Asian neighbors Russian Federation, and this is already real threat, including for Russia,” says Meister.

Most applicants to PMCs do not care where they are sent to fight. The most important thing is money. According to Ivanov, prices at PMCs today are as follows: 50 thousand rubles during training at the base, from 80 to 120 thousand “at the exit,” in addition to bonuses. By Russian standards, this is a lot of money. “If you burn a tank, you get money. Do you understand? If you hit some firing point, you get more money if the commander confirms it,” explains Ivanov.

More details and a variety of information about events taking place in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of our beautiful planet can be obtained at Internet Conferences constantly held on the Keys of Knowledge website. All Conferences – open e and absolutely free. We invite everyone who wakes up and is interested...

In modern society, the price of human life is becoming increasingly higher. At least, a similar trend is typical for Western countries. The majority of US and European citizens no longer want to fight. Moreover, the Western voter has an extremely negative perception of the use of national armed forces in various conflicts, usually taking place many thousands of kilometers from his home.

However, despite this civil pacifism, the world has not become safer and wars have not stopped. Both the United States and European countries have to defend their national interests with the help of armed force in different corners planets. The best way to resolve this contradiction is to use mercenaries.

A mercenary is a person who participates in an armed conflict not because of his political, ideological or national considerations, but receiving material benefits for dangerous military work. Often, mercenaries are not citizens of the country on whose territory the armed conflict is taking place, although different options are possible. The mercenary does not take an oath, the political aspects of the conflict are not important to him, he is only interested in money.

Mercenaries are, of course, not a modern invention. But if earlier soldiers, as a rule, were hired by states or representatives of the nobility, today the services of mercenaries are offered by commercial structures. These are private military companies (PMCs).

A similar business appeared around the 60s of the last century, but private military companies have become a mass phenomenon over the past few decades. PMCs offer security or defense services, and increasingly they are directly involved in hostilities. In recent years, information has appeared in the media about the creation of similar structures in Russia.

Currently, the global trend is that private military companies are gradually ousting regular troops from the battlefield.

History of the emergence and development of PMCs

The practice of attracting various specialists, advisers, instructors on a contract basis has long history. However, the first PMC in our usual form was created in 1967 in England. The founder of the company was Colonel of Her Majesty's Army David Sterling. Previously, this extraordinary man created the famous British SAS - one of the best special units in the world. The first PMC was called Watchguard International, the main direction of its activity was the preparation of various security organizations in the countries of the Middle East and Africa.

In the mid-70s, private military company Vinnell Corp, owned by American industrial giant Northrop Grumman, received its first major contracts from the US government. Their amount exceeded half a billion dollars. PMC employees were supposed to train the National Guard Saudi Arabia and perform some security tasks on the territory of this country.

Many mercenaries from various PMCs took part in the fighting in Angola. It should be noted that foreign mercenaries are not always used as front-line infantry. These could be signalmen, staff officers, technicians, operators complex systems weapons and many other specialists, without which no modern army can do.

The number of private military companies grew rapidly; their services were used not only by the governments of various states, but also by large businesses. Even the UN became interested in this problem. In 1979, a special resolution was adopted on this matter and a committee was organized, which, however, was of little use.

The situation changed seriously after the end of the Cold War. In the United States, defense spending was sharply reduced, many projects were closed, and the size of the American armed forces was reduced. It was at this moment that the US military leadership came up with the idea of ​​​​more actively attracting mercenary companies. At first they were engaged in supporting the armed forces (logistics, equipment repair, supplies), but then PMCs began to be attracted to perform more serious tasks.

During the invasion of Iraq in 1991, the number of mercenaries from various PMCs was 1% of total number American troops in the Persian Gulf. And that was just the beginning.

Private mercenary armies took part in various military conflicts in Africa in the 90s; the American PMC MPRI trained the Croatian army during the war in Yugoslavia. However, the rise of private military companies began after the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Currently, the number of mercenaries located in these countries exceeds the number of American military personnel.

Western PMCs were training the Georgian army before 2008, American and French military companies resisted pirates in Somalia, mercenaries from various PMCs took part in civil war in Libya.

And this is not a complete list of conflicts in recent decades in which private hired companies have been seen. Today, 450 private military companies are officially registered in the world, and the list of their services is very wide.

The most famous Western PMCs are: Academi (formerly Blackwater), Kellog, Brown and Root (USA), Groupe-EHC (France), Erinys (USA), DynCorp (USA).

What are PMCs used for?

Modern private military companies are hired to perform a variety of tasks. The most common of them is military consulting. That is, they train soldiers of law enforcement units, raise the level of officers and technical personnel, and conduct strategic planning.

The second area of ​​activity of the PMC is logistics. “Private traders” are engaged in providing regular troops participating in hostilities. Moreover, the concept of “security” is interpreted very broadly. This could be the repair of military equipment, the usual supply of advanced units, or the maintenance of army computer systems.

Very often, PMCs are involved in the protection of various objects. A classic example is the oil fields and pipelines in Iraq. PMCs have been doing this work for a long time. In recent years, private military companies have been actively offering mine clearance services.

In connection with the development of piracy in some areas of the World Ocean, a new line of activity has emerged for PMCs: escorting ships and fighting modern filibusters. This issue is especially relevant for the Gulf of Aden. It is much more profitable for shipowners to hire a PMC than to pay a ransom for a ship. By the way, mercenaries are most often involved in the ransom and release of captured sailors.

The direct participation of mercenaries in hostilities has become a trend in recent years. PMCs, “tailored” specifically for war, are being created in the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Russia.

Today in Russia there are more and more voices calling for changes to legislation that would allow the creation and use of PMCs on a legal basis. In our country, a huge number of people have military experience, and the low level of well-being will allow serious savings on the salaries of Russian “soldiers of fortune.” Whether the current leadership of the country needs this is a controversial issue that deserves a separate article.

Private military companies in Russia

What is the situation with private hired companies in Russia? Officially, we do not have mercenaries; moreover, such activities are punishable by law (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A person participating in an armed conflict for money can receive from three to seven years in prison in Russia.

Mercenaries arose on a serious scale in Russia immediately after the collapse of the USSR. The country was experiencing a reduction in its huge armed forces, tens of thousands of excellent military specialists found themselves on the margins of life, and many of them had real combat experience. Therefore, it is not surprising that Russian-speaking military personnel began to appear in various parts of the globe. Today there are several Russian mercenary military organizations that provide various types of rather specific services.

Such companies are usually staffed by retired military personnel, veterans of special units, often with experience of more than one conflict. The official status of such structures in Russia has not yet been determined; according to Article 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the organization of illegal armed groups is a crime. Here is a list of the most frequently mentioned Russian PMCs: E.N.O.T. CORP, Wagner PMC, Cossacks, Tiger Top-Rent Security, Moran Security Group, MAR PMC.

These structures are engaged in a variety of activities: providing security services, convoying cargo, training military personnel, fighting pirates and directly participating in hostilities.

In recent years, information about the active activities of domestic PMCs has increasingly become public. Currently, Russia is involved in two conflicts in which it has to use PMCs especially actively. We are talking about Syria and Ukraine.

At the beginning of spring, journalists from St. Petersburg Fontanka conducted a brilliant investigation into the activities of Russian private military companies. The Wagner PMC came into their field of vision, whose fighters had already long time are participating in hostilities in eastern Ukraine and Syria.

Formally, this private army does not exist; it is not on the lists of law enforcement agencies or in the registers of legal entities. However, despite this, Wagner PMC has armored vehicles and heavy infantry weapons. The unit has been involved in the Syrian conflict since 2013, it was involved during the return of Crimea, and then transferred to the territory of the Luhansk region.

Wagner PMC got its name from the call sign used by its commander, Dmitry Utkin, a former special forces soldier and a big fan of the attributes and ideology of the Third Reich. The unit is staffed by former military personnel, special forces personnel, and veterans of law enforcement agencies.

For the authorities, the existence of structures like Wagner PMCs is very convenient. Officially, Russia is not fighting in the Donbass; participation in ground military operations in Syria is also not advertised. The fighters of the Wagner PMC are not taken into account anywhere; official structures do not recognize them, which, however, does not prevent the mercenaries from being awarded military orders and medals. Most often posthumously.

Naturally, the losses of private military companies are not included in the lists of the Ministry of Defense. The mercenaries themselves avoid communicating with the press and generally do not want publicity, since everyone “goes under the radar.”

Journalists dug up information about dozens of dead Wagnerites, most of whom were killed in Donbass

A feature of Wagner PMC is a very high percentage of losses, which is usually not typical for private military companies. Such structures, as a rule, recruit professionals, and they very rarely engage in frontal attacks. However, at Wagner PMC everything is “a little” different.

Both in the Donbass and in Syria, Wagner’s troops work in the most dangerous places, often they are part of the first wave of attackers, storming populated areas and enemy positions. PMC management pays virtually no attention to training military personnel. The fighters complain that to completely repeat the Soviet tactics of World War II, they only need “bayonets on AKs.”

Despite the high percentage of casualties, there are more than enough people willing to serve under Wagner's command. The reason for this is very simple - money. A mercenary receives about 240 thousand rubles a month - very good money for the Russian outback.

Current PMC situation

The number of private military companies in the world is growing at a rapid pace. Their use in conflicts is reaching unprecedented proportions. The Americans simply cannot name the exact number of mercenaries who are present in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In 2018, in Afghanistan, for every American regular soldier (9.8 thousand in total), there are three mercenaries (28.6 thousand). The situation is similar in Iraq: 4,087 military personnel and 7,773 soldiers from private military companies. These figures are most likely not final, since the American defense department does not keep accurate records of PMCs.

By the way, the Russian PMC Lukoil-A also operates in Iraq. This company is a division of the oil giant; it was created by Vympel veterans in the mid-90s. Legally, this is a private security company, but in Iraq, Lukoil-A performs the typical tasks of a private military company (protection of fields and oil pipelines, cargo delivery, escort of convoys).

To this number should be added the contract soldiers hired by the CIA and other American intelligence organizations.

Mercenaries die much more often than regular soldiers, and the Pentagon seems to be absolutely happy with this situation. The Americans have a rather strict system for recording losses; they have a special website where you can find data on all US operations outside the country. The information is constantly updated, combat and non-combat losses are described separately. Of course, mercenaries are not included in these statistics. Moreover, PMCs often do not inform the military about the death of their people. Their relatives are simply paid insurance; a significant part of the mercenaries are not even citizens of the United States.

Why governments different countries prefer to work with PMCs? This is often more profitable than entering certain territory troops, create garrisons there, and deal with logistics. Private military companies are distinguished by a high level of professionalism; they usually effectively solve the tasks for which they receive money. PMCs are distinguished by high efficiency, they have a minimum of bureaucracy, and more flexible management.

But the main thing is different: using PMCs, a state can not advertise its participation in an armed conflict at all or minimize its extent. All the dirty work, which is enough in any war, can be transferred to mercenaries.

The use of national armed forces often carries significant political risks for the authorities both within the country and abroad. It is much more profitable for the losses to be borne by mercenaries (“ichtamnets”) from de jure non-existent companies that will not spoil official statistics.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them

The first mentions of mercenary armies date back to the existence of Ancient Rome and Carthage. Professional mercenary soldiers replaced militias and slave-owning militia. Discipline in the mercenary army was maintained solely by payment of salaries and fear of punishment (methods of physical coercion).

The present time can rightfully be considered finest hour mercenary armies. This successful business is associated with the following circumstances:
- mercenary armies are private military companies (PMCs) and build their business without regard to global agreements on the movement of regular military units across the territories of foreign states;
- PMCs have the right to enter into contracts with any state in the world to perform a wide range of work and services: from security services to participation in hostilities;
- PMCs have the right to hire employees with the required qualifications and set their salaries significantly lower than those of regular army personnel;
- customers of services (state, non-state and private forms of ownership) do not need to provide social protection and payments (pension, insurance), mercenaries - these duties are performed by the management of the PMC;
- material and technical supplies to mercenary units are carried out exclusively at the expense of the PMC’s own resources;
- PMCs may be partially delegated the functions and powers of the regular troops of the customer state;
- international organizations attract PMCs to carry out dangerous missions in countries with difficult military and economic situations.

It is known that there are about 3 thousand private military companies operating in 60 countries.

PMCs offer a fairly wide range of services:
- system examination national security and defense;
- recruiting recruits to carry out international missions and managing these operations;
- security of strategic facilities (airports, sea harbors, etc.);
- protection of oil infrastructure facilities;
- security of energy facilities;
- protection of government institutions and embassies and government leaders;
- escort of cargo, convoys;
- training of military units of regular troops;
- services of translators specializing in military translation;
- performing prison security (as an example Iran, Afghanistan);
- carrying out demining of fields and objects, as well as destruction of ammunition;
- fire protection;

Carrying out work on the logistics of troops;
- conducting reconnaissance, including aerial reconnaissance;
- protection of sea vessels from attacks by pirates.

PMCs are capable of not only purchasing weapons created using high technologies, but also training highly qualified military specialists.

Mercenary units can compensate for the lack of necessary military units in any country. For example, the mercenary units of the Israeli company Levdan allowed the President of the Congo to eliminate a military bloc hostile to his government.

Private military companies are closely connected with Western intelligence services and, above all, American and British ones.

It’s hard to believe, but the basis of the military-industrial complex of the United States of America is precisely the many private military companies whose responsibilities include comprehensive service to the army, participation in the development of new types of weapons and assistance to government intelligence services.

But no matter how large a PMC is, it would be difficult for it to perform all types of services. Therefore, there is a division of functions between PMCs. For example, the companies XE Services and Erinys Iraq Limited are professionally involved in the protection of oil infrastructure facilities. Convoy escort in Afghanistan and Iraq is provided by Kroll. CACI provides qualified military translation services. The supply of troops is professionally handled by KBR.

In the United States, the very first company providing professional mercenary services was Vinnell Corporatio, created back in 1931. She worked for the American Army during World War II. It was the offices of this alleged construction company that were used as cover by CIA officers in Africa and the Middle East. For assistance to the intelligence services, the company received contract work at oil industry facilities in Iran and Libya. In Vietnam, employees of this organization were not only involved in the construction of military facilities, but also participated in combat operations and reconnaissance raids. This organization is responsible for training soldiers of the Saudi Arabian National Guard and participating in military operations against rebels in Mecca.

The opinions of experts on the issue of the effectiveness of work and services transferred by government authorities to private companies are divided. Many believe that delegating the powers of the military-industrial complex to mercenaries infringes on the interests of the state, and is also a rather expensive service.

But these experts do not take into account that, as a rule, mercenaries operate in high-risk areas. Also, to carry out their tasks, they attract highly professional specialists not only with military qualifications, but from almost any branch of science, production, security systems, etc.

To carry out joint operations, PMCs unite in associations: for example, the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA).
In Iraq, according to agreements with the United States, about 100 thousand people from the Association of Private Security Structures in Iraq are employed. Since the concluded contracts regulating the presence of private military units in Iraq did not take into account the laws of this country, many scandals of mercenaries with local authorities and the population often arise around PMCs. In particular, armed clashes between Iraqis and mercenaries result in significant casualties on both sides.

The US Military Department believes that in the future, with conflict situations, the main fighting force will be mercenary armies formed by private companies - that is, a course has been taken towards the so-called “privatization modern warfare" Consequently, an outflow of military specialists from the regular army to the PMC network is expected.

However, the use of mercenaries to work on government orders has significant flaws:
- the first place for PMCs is not fulfilling military duty, but making a profit;
- PMC, as an independent business entity, is not subject to command;
- since it is impossible to provide for all options for the development of the situation in contracts with PMCs, this reduces the possibility of making flexible decisions - which significantly reduces the combat effectiveness of the mercenary army;
- PMC management personnel do not have comprehensive military training and therefore will not be able, if necessary, to join the ranks of combat units.

Repeated attempts have been made to bring control over the functioning of mercenary armies - from introducing a licensing system and organizing independent oversight to creating a code of conduct, but there is still no effective control over combat-ready private military units. The fact that mercenary fighters are able to solve the most difficult combat missions in various regions of the planet, confirms the seriousness of the situation of uncontrollability of private military companies.

For example, the MPRI company is the largest among PMCs. She has close ties to the Pentagon and the CIA. It was the fighters of this organization who not only took part in training the Croatian army, but also subsequently participated in Operation Storm, as a result of which the Serbian units were defeated. It is this company that protects US interests on the African continent. MPRI provides armament and training to the Georgian army, and has also developed plans for military operations against Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

It should be noted that MPRI is not the only PMC that provides paid services to the Georgian government. The American company CAI provides services to the Georgian General Staff to reform the Georgian army. PMC Kellog Brown and Root also did not remain aloof from the lucrative contract with Georgia - it began reconstructing military facilities on its territory.

In the 90s, the American-British company Halo Trust trained Chechen militants in subversive activities and conducted reconnaissance on the territory of Chechnya. Its fighters took part in the fighting in Chechnya against Federal troops.

At a closed meeting of the US Department of Defense, it was noted that in the near future, mercenary armed forces will become the main tool for supporting and promoting Washington’s policy abroad.

July 23rd, 2017

In general, the theme of specialist mercenaries, and even more so of an entire shadow “army” that is not essentially an official armed force for many, most likely seems to exist in the world of cinema and fiction.

However, everything is more real and down to earth. This is the story of the world's largest mercenary army...

The dizzying growth of herself large army The mercenary era began not in hot spots like Afghanistan or Iraq, but in a sleepy little American town called Holland in Michigan, where the founder of modern mercenaryism, Erik Prince, was born into a right-wing Christian family.

It was the Prince family that laid the foundations that would in the future help Blackwater (BW) rise to the unattainable heights of the international mercenary market.

This beautiful two-story home on South Shore Drive is ideally located on the waters of picturesque Lake Macatawa. The sun shines brightly in its clear water. On both sides of the road old spreading maples rustle peacefully. An American flag flutters quietly above the house. The calm picture is occasionally disturbed by the noise of motor boats or randomly passing cars. Real America, straight from the postcard.

In little Holland, the Prince family was akin to the European royal family, and Edgar Prince, Eric's father, was king. A quarter of the entire city worked for the self-taught manufacturer Edgar. He reshaped its institutions, planned and sponsored downtown development, and was one of the patrons of two local colleges.

If there was one lesson that Edgar passed on to his children, it was the understanding of how to build and run an empire while adhering to strict Christian dogmas, right-wing views, and the fundamentals of a market economy.

By 1973, the Prince Corporation was doing better than ever. Employing hundreds of people across multiple divisions, the company launched its flagship product, a car sun visor patented by Edgar himself.

18-hour workdays took a toll on the father of the family’s health—he suffered a stroke at the age of 40. Finding himself in the hospital, as usually happens, Edgar decided to completely devote himself to serving Jesus Christ.

However, this did not in any way affect his business acumen - the Prince Corporation soon began producing many other car accessories that were very popular.

As Eric later said about his father, he “founded a company from scratch that began producing high-pressure casting machines and then grew into a world-class supplier of auto accessories.”

In the 1980s, the Prince family became close to one of the most influential conservative families in the United States when Eric's sister, Betsy, married Dick DeVos. By the way, her father was the founder of the Amway corporation, which generously sponsored, naturally, candidates from the Republican Party.

Eric's father died of another heart attack when he was 63 years old. A few minutes before his death, he spoke with the president of the Prince Corporation, then said goodbye and entered the elevator, where he was found 15 minutes later.

As happens when a king dies, the town of Holland fell into deep mourning. Local residents even lowered their flags.

At this time, Eric served as a Navy SEAL and had already visited Bosnia, Haiti and the Middle East.

Note translator: despite the rather stupid name, “fur seals” (orUnited StatesNavy’ s S e a, A ir, L and Teams — SEAL) is the elite force of the United States Navy. I won't go into detail, but these guys go through exhausting satanic training. About the final exam to join the ranksSEALentitledHell Weekeven made several films. So we can safely say that Eric was a strong and resilient young man. For those interested in cats, we recommend this book worldwidefamous sniper Chris Kyle,American Sniper.

Eric admired his father and dreamed of following in his footsteps since childhood. His deep religiosity was no exception—his writings in high school full of quotes from the Bible. After high school, he entered the Naval Academy, dreaming of becoming a pilot on an aircraft carrier, but after three semesters he dropped out to study at Hillsdale College, which preached libertarian economics. While in school, Eric was a volunteer firefighter and diver for the county sheriff. A 2006 Princeton Review poll ranked the college as the most conservative in the country.

Growing up, Eric began to take an active interest in right-wing politics, entering an internship at the White House under George H. W. Bush. It was during this practice that he made his first political donation ($15 thousand) to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Erik Prince (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

Eric supported politicians such as Jesse Helms (racist senator and admirer of the Confederate States of America), Ollie North (Iran arms scandal), Richard Pombo (connections with the “black” lobbyist Jack Abramoff), Dick Chrysler (founder of Cars and Concepts), Tom Coburn (senator and deacon of the Southern Baptist Church with all that it entails), Tom DeLay (unclear connections with the same black lobbyist Abramov and others Russian oligarchs) and many others. At least Eric can be praised for the consistency of his views.

In 1992 he turned his attention to election campaign renegade Republican Pat Buchanan, who tried to wrest the Republican nomination from President Bush with his ultra-conservative anti-immigrant, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage agenda. Because of this, Eric had a big fight with his sister, who was working for Bush at the time. However, their quarrel ended as quickly as Eric's fascination with the Buchanan campaign - he returned to the ranks of the SEALs, joining SEAL Team 8 after officer candidate school. It was during the period from 92 to 96 with the SEALs that Eric met many of those who would become his assistants in the founding of BW.

In the first months after the death of patriarch Edgar Prince, no one knew what would happen to his legacy - the Prince Corporation. More than 4,000 employees depended on how Edgar himself saw the future of the company. Now this burden has fallen to all family members - his wife, Elsa, has become chairman of the board of directors; Eric, having broken with the service, took up the daily affairs of the company. His wife, Joan Nicole, had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Life in fabulous Holland began to turn into hell.

In 1996, a year after Edgar's death, the family sold the business for $1.35 billion to Johnson Controls under the promise to retain the Prince Corporation brand, all employees and social package. True, as often happens in the world of big business and big money, Johnson Controls did not keep its promise, buried the brand, and fired some of its employees, dissolving the company.

At this time, Eric, following in his father's footsteps in his religiosity, came to the point of accepting Catholicism. Taking Edgar's example of giving to right-wing Protestants, he began donating money to right-wing Catholics like Catholic Answers, which opposed abortion, homosexuality, stem cell research and cloning.

At the same time, the Prince family was on the council National Policy(Council for National Policy). Newspaper The New The York Times described the council as "a private club of several hundred of the country's most powerful conservatives who meet behind closed doors three times a year to discuss how to move the country to the right."

That this council was not a bunch of crazy villagers dreaming of world domination is evidenced by the fact that George W. Bush turned to them for support in the 1999 presidential race. Their meetings were also attended by Dick Cheney (Vice President) and Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense).

B.W.: START

While Eric was the printing press for the fledgling company's financing, almost every detail of his venture was developed by Al Clark, who served as a SEAL firearms instructor for 11 years. In a 1993 interview, when Prince was just beginning his military career, Clark claimed that he had already outlined the shape of the future company.

The main problem at that time was the lack of training grounds for the Navy, which includes a SEAL unit. They always had to be rented from the Marines or the Army.

In 1996, Clark was transferred to SEAL Team 8 as a tactics instructor. Prince, then promoted to lieutenant, was in the first platoon that Clark trained.

Only a few months later did Clark learn that Erik Prince belongs to the same Prince family. However, the dreams of founding the company were not destined to come true - as you remember, the father of the family died in 1995, and Eric’s wife was diagnosed with cancer. There was no time for business at all.

In a 2006 interview, Eric said that “in the 90s, many specialists had similar thoughts about the need to build private training grounds.”

When his father passed away in 1995, Prince still considered staying in the SEALs, but after his wife's health deteriorated, he dropped everything, quit the service and returned home to support his family and four children.

In 2006, Prince said: “Many special forces soldiers I knew shared my thoughts about the need for advanced private training facilities. Some of them joined me when I first started BW. After selling the family business, I sponsored my own company.”

Prince claimed that the idea for BW came to him while serving in SEAL Team 8: “I trained all over the world and realized how difficult it is for special forces to undergo modern combat training.”

However, some former high-ranking BW employees claimed that the idea was actually Al Clark's: "Al came up with the idea from start to finish, Eric provided the financing."

BW appeared just during the privatization boom in the Department of Defense, which took place from 1989 to 1993 under the leadership of Dick Cheney and George H.W. In his first year in office, Cheney cut the defense budget by $10 billion. He stopped funding research and development (R&D) for a number of complex weapons systems, and also reduced the number of military personnel from 2.2 million to 1. 6 million. As Dan Briody wrote in his book The Halliburton Agenda: “In the early 1990s, the Army had little dependence on private companies and Cheney was determined to change the status quo. The idea was to let the army fight, and outsource all rear logistics to private companies. In addition, it was a very good way to calm the wave of discontent in society after the next deployment of troops abroad. More “private traders” means fewer regular troops, and less discontent.”

By the time Erik Prince and Al Clark began creating BW in the mid-90s, the Defense Department was undergoing massive layoffs. Training bases, one of the most important components of the military machine, also came under attack. The first president of BW then said: “There is now a great demand for high-quality training for military personnel and special forces soldiers, because most of the bases were built during the Second World War and are hopelessly outdated. Nobody could provide them with modern training grounds.” It was this niche that BW filled in 1996.

At this time, the Republican Party was going through difficult times. Clinton's victory in '92 marked the end of twelve golden years of conservative rule that had been laid by the Reagan administration. Rights religious organizations, with whom Prince was very sympathetic, considered the Clinton administration “a leftist regime that supported abortion, pro-homosexuals, and opposed family values and religion in the country."

It was in this unfavorable environment that BW emerged. On December 26, 1996, 3 months after leaving the SEAL service, Eric registered the Blackwater Lodge & Training Center. The following year he bought almost 2,000 acres of land in North Carolina. The new brainchild of a worthy representative of the Princev family will now be located near the town with interesting name Great Dismal Swamp.

BW may have later become a megalodon shark in the mercenary market, but in the early days the company was desperately trying to convince the city planning committee of Currituck County, population 20,000, that BW could open a business here. Before September 11, the committee members were not worried about global terrorism, Islamic radicalism and other horror stories. They were concerned about the price of real estate, acceptable noise levels and the ability to protect themselves from crowds of fans of shooting at live targets. They had reason to worry - a year earlier, a stray bullet from a local hunter hit the elementary school building during classes.

In the end, Currituck County turned them down, so Prince went to neighboring Camden County, where he received quick approval for his project.

The first work began in June 1997, and the company officially opened in May 1998. Although the name Blackwater sounds creepy, it refers to the dark waters of the Great Swamp, near which the BW base is built. Soon after opening, both former and current SEALs began flocking to BW, followed by FBI employees. Everything was simple - new training grounds, great training opportunities and a short distance from the place of work (the FBI headquarters in Washington is 350 km, and one of the SEAL bases is 60 km).

By 1998, BW was doing well - the company trained private and government clients to own various types firearms (from pistols to assault rifles and machine guns). Some training grounds were rented out to SEALs for training. Police officers from Virginia, North Carolina and even Canada trained at BW. The company received questions from foreign countries: the Spanish government was interested in training specialists to protect presidential candidates, the Brazilian authorities were interested in training on counter-terrorism operations. One BW client wrote in the Virginian Plot in 1998: “They are the best of the best... it is a great honor to come here and learn from the best.”

By the end of 1998, the BW base included several conference rooms, classrooms, recreation rooms with fireplaces and stuffed animals, a store, a cafeteria, an armory, a separate room for cleaning weapons and spacious rooms with satellite TV for guests - a paradise for everyone gun lovers, even by modern standards. In the same year, BW held a shooting competition on its territory among law enforcement agencies and military units, later nicknamed “Shoot-out at BW”.

Blackwater played a significant role in the Iraq War as a contractor for the United States government. In 2003, the first contract was signed to provide security to the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Paul Bremer, in the amount of $21 million. According to Erik Prince, 30 company employees have been killed since 2003. Blackwater's total casualties in Iraq amounted to about 780 people, these people are not counted in official military casualty statistics.

While operating in Iraq, Blackwater was repeatedly suspected of arms smuggling. A major scandal that occurred with a security company on March 9, 2010 was the investigation into the disappearance of more than 500 Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons from American warehouses in Afghanistan. Presumably, the Blackwater employee responsible for the loss of weapons signed invoices for their removal from the warehouse with the name of the South Park cartoon character Eric Cartman.

On September 16, 2010, five members of Xe's management, including chief executive Gary Jackson, were indicted on gun trafficking charges. Officials falsified documents and thus hid their gift to King Abdullah II of Jordan in the form of 22 weapons, including 17 AK assault rifles, seized during a raid in 2008

The Iraqi government is suing the American private security company Blackwater, whose employees are suspected of killing 17 Baghdad civilians in 2007. In mid-December 2009, The New York Times reported that Blackwater was involved in kidnapping operations of people suspected of links to militants in Iraq.
Six months earlier, information appeared in the press that Blackwater had “special assassination teams” whose goal was to eliminate or capture al-Qaeda leaders. The secret program was halted in July after CIA Director Leon Panetta privately briefed a number of congressmen about it, while the agency deliberately kept US lawmakers out of the news.

In February 2009, the company renamed itself Xe Services LLC (pronounced "Zee"). Xe employees worked legally in Iraq until at least September 2009.

And now in 2010 the company was once again renamed Academi.

List of abbreviations -B.W. (Blackwater), PMC (private military company), theater of war - theater of military operations, BD - combat operations, AP - presidential administration,DoD (Department of Defense) - US Department of Defense, Armed Forces

sources

Translation of a number of excerpts from the book by the famous American journalist Jeremy Scahill Blackwater The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, dedicated to the history of one of the most famous mercenary companies in the world.

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Jeeps with well-armed people are driving along the streets of a hot southern city. The stern men in military uniform are strikingly different from the local soldiers - they are “white”. But these are not peacemakers 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 colossal demand for foreign mercenaries, who, due to their experience and military professions, were much more combat-ready than African military personnel themselves.

Since the 1950s - 1960s. The governments of young African states began to invite foreign military specialists to serve - both individual individuals and military companies organized by foreigners. African leaders willingly turned to the services of mercenaries for several reasons.

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

Secondly, to private military companies that are not connected by tribal relations and do not fit into clan schemes African societies, there was always more trust. Many African dictators preferred to staff their personal guards with foreign mercenaries, who were trusted much more than their fellow tribesmen.

Finally, Europeans and Americans who served in private military companies were always 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 the foreign “soldiers of fortune” who served in Africa, although they were not “dandelion boys,” were still significantly inferior in “frostbite” and criminal tendencies to local soldiers and officers, even those who served in government troops and police forces.

The second half of the twentieth century is filled numerous examples participation of foreign mercenaries in African wars. In fact, not a single major African conflict could have happened without them. Several mercenary commanders of the second half of the twentieth century became real legends of the Cold War. Michael Hoar, Jean Schramm, Bob Denard - these names are forever inscribed in the post-colonial wars on the African continent. Michael Hoare, a former major of the British Royal Armored Forces, of Irish nationality, lived in Durban after retiring, worked as an accountant, but then returned to the military profession. The war in the Congo on the side of Moise Tshombe and the attempted coup in the Seychelles made Hoare, known as “Mad Mike,” one of the most famous mercenaries in the world. Former Belgian plantation owner Jean Schramm went into the jungle after his plantation was destroyed by supporters of Patrice Lumumba. From that time on, he devoted his life to participating in various local wars.

But the most famous mercenary was Bob Denard, a former member of the French Navy, 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 supporters of Patrice Lumumba. For ten years, from 1968 to 1978, Bob Denard served as a 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 Biafran separatists to secede from Nigeria, the attempted military coup in Benin in 1977. Denard took part in a military coup in the Comoros, where he settled for fifteen years, becoming commander of the presidential guard, converting to Islam and receiving a new name, Said Mustafa Majub.

The Congolese Civil War 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 had leftist views and was considered a pro-Soviet politician, and his pro-Western opponent Moise Tshombe, who declared the independence of the province of Katanga, the most promising region Congo, in which the country's main natural resources 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, including Michael Hoare and Bob Denard, entered the service of Katanga. A detachment under the command of Michael Hoare, staffed by European mercenaries and pilots from among the Cuban Contras, in 1965 confronted 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, then the pro-Western FNLA movement of Holden Roberto and the opposition UNITA movement of Jonas Savimbi brought in European, Rhodesian and South African mercenaries to help. A detachment of the notorious Kostas Georgiou (1951-1976), a former corporal of the British parachute regiment, a Greek Cypriot by nationality, fought on the side of the FNLA. Despite his young years, Georgiou was a very difficult guy. While serving in the British Parachute Regiment, 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 squad, the core of which was made up of his friends - a colleague in the parachute regiment Nick Hall, an accomplice in the postal robbery Michael Winehouse and the cousin of his Cypriot partner Charlie Christodolou, nicknamed “Charlie Shotgun”. Nick Hall was promoted to the rank of major, and Winehouse and “Shotgun” became captains of the FNLA army. Thanks to recruitment in Great Britain, the detachment was soon replenished with hundreds of European mercenaries, mostly former British paratroopers. In the FNLA army, Georgiou's detachment turned out to be the most combat-ready unit that performed the most difficult tasks.

FNLA leader Holden Roberto called Kostas Georgiou a man of phenomenal courage. At first, Georgiou's detachment fought very effectively, but then the quality of the personnel deteriorated. Instead of former paratroopers, unemployed people 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 greatly irritated the already aggressive and cruel Georgiou, who began to mercilessly shoot not only captured opponents, but also his subordinates. In February 1976, after the defeat of the FNLA, Georgiu was captured, and on June 11, 1976, the trial of the mercenaries - 13 citizens of the United States and Great Britain - began in Luanda. On July 10, 1976, Costas Georgiou, Andrew Mackenzie, Daniel Francis Gerhart and John Derek Barker were executed by firing squad.

During 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 increasingly actively involve private military companies to protect important objects, including political leaders, transport routes, and mineral deposits. Neither their own leaders nor transnational corporations trust the African military, knowing their level of training, and most importantly, their tendency to participate in various adventures and corruption.

Now the African security services market 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 South African Army lieutenant colonel Eben Barlow.

The backbone of the 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 foiled a coup attempt in Sierra Leone in 1995, returning control of the country's diamond fields to the government. In 2015, Eben Barlow created the PMC STEPP, which trains military personnel of the Nigerian government forces.

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

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

Back in the 1990s, the first Ukrainian mercenaries began to appear on the African continent. At first these were pilots, then specialists from other military specialties were added to them. Now Ukrainian private military companies are trying to develop the market for 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, including those with experience in the Yugoslav wars, are also active in Africa.

In recent years, China has also become increasingly active in the military services market. It is known that the PRC is now launching its military base on the territory of the small East African country of Djibouti, where there are already a number of bases European countries. But in addition to the official military base where PLA soldiers will serve, there are employees of Chinese private military companies in Africa. They carry out tasks to protect Chinese business facilities on the continent. However, taking into account the specifics political system China, it is clear that all Chinese PMCs are branches of the PLA. The personnel of Chinese private military companies are staffed by former army and police special forces professionals. high class, which may well compete with their American, South African and European colleagues.

Private military companies and their employees - from owners and managers to ordinary soldiers - operate on the African continent for commercial purposes. They participate in a wide variety of conflicts, often performing very unsightly 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, and protect oil fields. natural resources and enterprises. Finally, private military companies are making their contribution to the fight against international terrorism and various radical groups.