Any conflict for your money. PMCs have been legalized in Russia and recruitment is in full swing

MENSBY

4.8

Protecting ships from pirates, eliminating a cell of a terrorist organization, and 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 great experience participation 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 proven to be indispensable in special operations where it is not possible to use conventional military personnel.

Protecting ships from pirates, combat mission to eliminate 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. Their work is reviewed in a variety of tones, but we will tell you about the 10 most famous PMCs in the world.

№1 Academi (Blackwater)

Country: USA

Number: more than 20,000 mercenaries.

Specialization: support for coups d'etat 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 protects drug traffic coming from the Middle East.

The most high-profile operations: Iraq, Baghdad, 2007.

In 1997, two Marines decided to create their own security company, ready to take on any job if they paid well for it. This is how one of the most famous PMCs in the world appeared - Blackwater. Murder of civilians, weapons smuggling, drug trafficking and coups d'etat - 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 department employees who had announced the hunt for “terrorist #1” - Osama bin Laden.

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

Blackwater operatives completed their second large order the very next year. In May 2003, they were hired to protect US State Department employees in Iraq. As a result, the thugs hit the jackpot of 21.4 million dollars. But the most interesting thing awaited them ahead.

Blackwater gained worldwide fame on September 16, 2007. In the central square of Baghdad, mercenaries staged a firefight, as a result of which 17 civilians were shot dead and another 18 were seriously injured. A scandal broke out. And although there were children among the victims, the thugs never suffered any serious punishment.

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

It subsequently turned out that company employees were involved in 195 shootings from 2005 to 2007. In 84% of cases, the 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)

Country: United Kingdom

Number: more than 500,000 people

Specialization: transportation of valuables and cash, as well as staffing private security services. Security of strategic sites and major international events, such as sports Olympics; escorting prisoners on behalf of the police.

The most high-profile operations: Between 2004 and 2011. absorbed seven of its competitors.

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

G4S officers 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 sovereign governments, 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 railway traffic. In 2011, the company's management signed the UN Global Compact, which is an international standard for promoting business conduct, including labor protection, human rights, anti-corruption and environmental protection.

The loudest victories of Group 4 Securicor occurred not on the battlefields, but, no matter how strange it may sound, in business. Between 2004 and 2011. The PMC absorbed seven of its competitors. It expanded its activities to include not only security activities, but also the production of gadgets and security systems, which are now imported by the company all over the world. Despite the fact that the company positions itself precisely as a PMC, there is no information about the company’s participation in military operations. But it has its own index on the international exchange.

No. 3 MPRI International (Military Professional Resources) Inc.

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 in conducting research and assessing public opinion.

The most high-profile operations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1994. Preparation of the “Balkan Blitzkrieg”.

“We teach you how to kill professionally.” The company, created by 8 former officers of the US Armed Forces, has become a kind of springboard for training special forces soldiers, providing a wide range of services for governments and armed forces of 40 countries.

But the real profit of the American PMC comes from working in the thick of modern global conflicts. Over the course of their history, MPRI International mercenaries 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 the conclusion of an agreement between the Croats and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under pressure from the 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, managed in the shortest possible time to train senior military officers of the armies of Croatia and Bosnia, as well as to 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 Liberation Army Kosovo, then worked with Albanian militias in Macedonia in 2000-2001 and government forces in Liberia and Colombia.

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

#4 Aegis Defense Services

Country: United Kingdom

Number: more than 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 to the US government and UN missions.

The most high-profile operations: Iraq, 2005.

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

Officially, the company's employees are engaged in security activities, but in addition to security, 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 showing Aegis Defense Services employees shooting at unarmed Iraqis. And although the company’s management did not admit its involvement in the incident, the Pentagon nevertheless temporarily suspended cooperation with the PMC.

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

No. 5 PMC RSB-Group (Russian Security Systems)

Country: Russia

Number: the main core is about 500 people. Depending on the scale of the operation, the number of employees can increase to several thousand by attracting 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 training center, where training seminars are held for military specialists.

The most high-profile operations: Gulf of Aden, 2014.

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

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

The creators are professional military personnel, reserve officers of the GRU and FSB, who have been 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 opened 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 security 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 companies with weapons licenses registered outside of Russia. And Russian RSS employees work abroad in accordance with the laws and requirements of the state where our security groups are located. We use semi-automatic weapons of 7.62 mm, 5.56 mm caliber, body armor, thermal imagers, night vision devices, satellite communications, and if necessary, we can use UAVs,” Krinitsyn said in an interview with Kommersant.

He also said that the first foreign operation of the RSB Group was to protect ships in the Gulf of Aden from Somali pirates. It is noteworthy that the PMC built its own tactics to protect ships, thanks to which the pirates simply changed course, abandoned military clashes, and even in rare cases welcomed well-armed military personnel from the RSB on the ship they were guarding. Thus, PMCs manage to carry out security at sea almost bloodlessly.

№6 Erinys International

Country: United Kingdom

Number: unknown

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

The most high-profile operations: Iraq, 2003.

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

"Major US Support in Iraq." Since 2003, Erinys has provided comprehensive support to the US government in military operations in Iraq.

PMC employees are former employees of British intelligence agencies and special forces.

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

In 2004, she found herself at the center of a scandal when information about cruel treatment of prisoners appeared in the press. According to journalists, mercenaries violated the human rights convention by using brutal torture against a 16-year-old Iraqi resident during a military investigation.

The company currently works closely with oil and gas corporations, extractive industries, non-governmental organizations and public services. The services are also readily used by the American and British governments, and even the UN.

No. 7 Northbridge Services Group

Country: Dominican Republic

Number: Varies depending on tasks

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

The most high-profile operations: Liberia, 2003.

"Any whim for your money." The main customers of this PMC are transnational companies and conglomerates, which are generous in paying for various types 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 USA, UK and Ukraine.

The company "provides an effective service designed to meet 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 of information, provide assistance in the field of maritime security and natural resource protection.

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 to capture Liberian President Charles Taylor for $2 million. But the proposal was rejected as illegal.

PMCs 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

Country: USA

Number: about 14 thousand people.

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

The most high-profile operations: Afghanistan, 2002.

PMC DynCorp appeared back in 1946. The corporation's headquarters is located in Virginia, but all operational management is carried out from an office in Texas. DynCorp receives more than 65% of its revenue 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 to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and trains much of the Iraqi and Afghan police forces.

According to some experts, the company is closely connected with the CIA and dubious transactions could be carried out 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 misusing $1.2 billion aimed at training law enforcement units.

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

No. 9 ITT Corporation

Country: USA

Number: about 9,000 employees.

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

The most high-profile operations: Latin America and South America 1964.

PMC appeared as one of the divisions of the ITT Corporation. The organization itself began in the 1920s as an international telephone and telegraph company. After division into areas, it became one of the main contractors for US government orders 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 Latin American regimes, in the Brazilian coup in 1964, when the governments of the countries tried to nationalize American companies, as well as for 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 devices and counter-laser technologies with Singapore, China and the UK.

No. 10 Asgaard German Security Group

Country: Germany

Number: unknown

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

The most high-profile operations: Somalia 2010.

One of the most famous German PMCs. Founded in 2007 by a former high-ranking German paratrooper named Thomas Kaltegärtner. The number of employees remains unknown to this day. It has representative 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 has no control over the activities of this PMC and does not know anything about its activities in Somalia.

The PMC is known for having concluded one of the most resonant contracts with the Somali oppositionist 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 just begun to appear, in contrast to the West and Europe, where 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.

The President of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terrorism unit, Sergei Goncharov, said that the State Duma could speed up the decision on the adoption of a law on private military companies.

“To be frank, such a law on private military companies, as far as I understand, 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 throughout the globe. They do quite serious work, which brings dividends to these countries,” Goncharov noted.

At the moment, the issue of control over the activities of PMCs is in a “stagnant” state. According to Sergei Goncharov, it needs to be addressed to the State Duma, which could introduce a corresponding bill.

We have already entered new phase in world military history. Political interests today are defended by private rather than national armies. Relying on the strength of military departments and corporate capital, they are ready to serve wherever they are ordered.

Blackwater

Blackwater is currently one of the main partners of the US Department of Defense in the supply of equipment and training of army personnel. According to 2007 data, there are about 2.3 thousand professional mercenaries in active service and about 25 thousand soldiers in reserve. It produces armored cars and owns its own aircraft. The organization took part in military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. It gained worldwide fame due to the high-profile scandals that accompanied the actions of Blackwater employees in hot spots. In 2007, they shot 17 Iraqi civilians who allegedly obstructed the movement of a motorcade with American diplomats. Around the same time, one of the Blackwater soldiers killed the security guard of the Vice President of Iraq. During the investigation, it was possible to establish that employees of Prince’s company had taken part in almost two hundred shootings since 2005 and, without hesitation, opened fire to kill, despite the right to use weapons only for the purpose of self-defense.

MPRI

There is demand - there is supply. The laws of the market also apply when it comes to international militarism. It is much more convenient to spend money (colossal amounts of money) through your own hands, rather than through the sieve of the state apparatus. This must have been the logic of the officers American army, who founded a private military company (MPRI) in 1987. MPRI today includes about 340 former American generals. Its employees took part in the preparation of the Croatian Army and the Fifth Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina before Operation Storm, which ended in the destruction of the Republic of Serbian Krajina and the Republic of Western Bosnia.
The company's "workers" took part in wars around the world. Typically, before working with the US Department of Defense, MPRI accepted orders from the military departments of other countries. This is a typical feature of all “private armies”. According to rough estimates, MPRI's profits today are estimated at $150 billion, up from $100 billion in 2001. The increase in the number and value of contracts is primarily due to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, in which MPRI is directly involved. This private agency has approximately 3,000 employees.

"Group" R (Company FDG)

The American private military company FDG was founded in 1996 by Marine Lieutenant Colonel Andre Rodriguez. A few years later, former Russian officer Dmitry Smirnov joined him. Their activities concentrated in the hottest regions of the world - the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq and Afghanistan. They provide various military services: ship security, military consulting, special forces training. A special role in the organization is played by the FDG SEAL unit, consisting of security swimmers capable of countering terrorism at a high level, both on and under water.
The company is known for its operations protecting checkpoints in the Iraqi province of Anbar (2006-2007), supporting US missions in the Gaza Strip (2007), and providing security for a delegation of Afghan war veterans during the installation of a memorial to the 9th Company in 2011.

Aegis Defense Services

Aegis is a British PMC that makes its living by providing armed personnel services to private clients, particularly UN and US government missions. Its geographical interests lie in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bahrain, Kenya and Nepal, where they focus on rapid response, risk assessment and protection of oil interests. The company's workforce is estimated to reach five thousand people. Aegis managed to avoid such damaging press attention for a long time, until 2005, when a video appeared on the British channel Channel 4 in which Aegis employees shot at Iraqi civilians, more precisely, at their cars as they were overtaking. The company did not admit guilt, but they failed to get away with it like Blackwater - the Pentagon refused further cooperation.

Erinys International

Erinys International was founded in 2002 by former British officer Jonathan Garratt and is registered in the British Virgin Islands, with many subsidiaries in Britain, South Africa and the Republic of Congo.

Their activities include all types and methods of "secret security", especially in areas with difficult natural conditions, such as Central Africa. They proved themselves successful during the conflicts in Iraq, when 6.5 thousand soldiers were sent to guard important resource facilities. The company came under scrutiny for mistreating a prisoner in 2004.

According to the British newspaper The Observer, the company's employees violated the human rights convention - during a military investigation, a 16-year-old native of Iraq was subjected to severe torture, which was aggravated by daily deprivation of food and water to the captive.

Northbridge Services Group

Northbridge is an American-British PMC with a base in the Dominican Republic and branches in Britain and Ukraine. For political reasons, the company works only for Democrats. The organization became famous for rescuing 25 oil workers who were held hostage on an oil rig for two weeks in 2003. Northbridge also played a significant role in resolving the 2003 Liberian civil conflict by siding with the rebels (LURD). The result was the overthrow of the country's official government and the introduction of UN peacekeepers into Liberia. Northbridge even offered to kidnap disgraced President Charles Taylor from his hideout and hand him over to the rebels for “an additional fee” of $4 million. But the initiative was rejected as “ridiculous and provocative.”

"White Legion"

The White Legion acquired its name during its African operations. That's what the locals called them. The number of the White Legion at the time of its participation in the conflict in Zaire was about three hundred people. They arrived at the war suddenly, on January 3, 1997, in order to support the regime of dictator Mobutu, the “black Bonaparte,” “The Greatest, and therefore always invincible.” The legion was multinational, including two corps and a division (Colonel Tavernier's Corps, Slavic Corps, Captain Dragan's Division). As you can understand, it consisted of French and Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Serbs). Communication between legionnaires mainly took place in French. What is typical is that not every soldier clearly understood commands spoken in a different language. For this reason, the legionnaires did not always “work” harmoniously. Mikhail Polikarpov: “Dragan’s right hand was a Russian named Vasily, later in the same 1994, while conducting reconnaissance in the rear of the Croatians, he was blown up by a tripwire mine and terribly cut by shrapnel...” The Belarusians and Ukrainians were pilots, former officers of the Soviet Air Force. Of the Legion’s ten helicopters, four were Soviet, Mi-24. Of course small arms The legion was almost entirely of Soviet production: “ light machine guns M53; RPG-7, M57 grenade launchers; 60 mm mortars; MANPADS "Igla". In the legion, Russian legionnaires distinguished themselves with special acumen. When everyone had already begun to retreat, only Lieutenant Misha’s corps remained to fight the advancing forces. They stopped the enemy and launched a counter-offensive on February 17, launching air strikes using the IL-76 as a bomber. The enemy-occupied cities of Vukavu and Shabunda were hit. Several Slav units in the town of Valikale became famous for their daring breakthrough and special operation. The Slavs fought for Kisangani until May, waging fierce defensive battles mixed with furious counterattacks.
Just as the legionnaires quickly appeared, they flew away just as quickly. They flew away smoothly, on airplanes, in full uniform and with special equipment. Most likely, to Serbia, where the legion was supervised by Soviet committee members. There is no other explanation for their free flight on a plane full of armed people.

Mercenaries participated in almost all major military campaigns: from Antiquity to the era of the Napoleonic Wars. In the 1960s, after a break of a century and a half, they returned to the stage. And since then, their role in military conflicts has only increased. Photo: ELI REED/MAGNUM PHOTOS/AGENCY.POTOGRAHER.RU

International law does not recognize them as full-fledged combatants, they are deprived of the security guarantees that prisoners of war have, and in some countries they are even outlawed. But governments largest states, the heads of transnational corporations and non-governmental organizations do not hesitate to enter into contracts with them, and in Ireland an entire museum has been created to perpetuate their glory. These people became the heroes of numerous books, from the ancient Anabasis of Xenophon to the modern novels of Frederick Forsyth, and they were given considerable space in the reflections on the ideal state of such outstanding social philosophers of the Middle Ages as Thomas More and Niccolò Machiavelli.

Their name is mercenaries. Condottieri, "wild geese", soldiers of fortune - in different times they were called differently, but this did not change the essence. Who are they? Ordinary criminals, scum collected to do dirty deeds? Or noble adventurers, “brothers of hot and thick blood”, who for recent years saved at least two African countries from bloody internecine wars?

To answer this question, we must first define the terms. Russian generals Those who cannot stand the very idea of a professional army contemptuously call every soldier who receives a salary a mercenary. Actually this is not true. The definition of a mercenary was formulated in the First Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the Laws of War. A mercenary is considered a person who, firstly, is specially recruited to fight in an armed conflict, secondly, actually takes direct part in hostilities, and thirdly (this is the main thing), takes part in hostilities, guided by the main Thus, the desire to receive personal benefit and the promised material reward, significantly exceeding the remuneration of military personnel of the same rank, performing the same functions, who are members of the armed forces of a given country, fourthly, is not a citizen of a country in conflict, and finally, fourthly, fifth, is not sent by a State that is not a party to the conflict to perform duties as a member of its armed forces.

Thus, a mercenary differs from a professional soldier (as well as, for example, a foreign volunteer) in that when he fights, he is guided primarily by selfish considerations. Neither the French Foreign Legion nor the Nepalese Gurkha units of the British Armed Forces are mercenaries. Yes, these units are not formed from citizens of the countries in whose armed forces they serve, but their salary corresponds to the salary of ordinary military personnel.

From "anabasis" to "wild geese"

For many centuries, military mercenaryism was considered a highly worthy occupation. The first apology for mercenaries can be considered “Anabasis” by the ancient commander Xenophon (first half of the 4th century BC) - the story of a ten-thousand-strong Greek army who fought in the ranks of the army of the Persian king Cyrus the Younger. And at the end of ancient Greece, mercenary became an extremely respected and very widespread profession. Greeks from the same city-states fought in both the army of Darius and the army of Alexander.

A new rise in mercenary activity occurred in the Middle Ages. The Vikings were among the first to master this profession: they gladly hired themselves into the personal guard of the Byzantine emperors. The famous Norwegian king Harald III was proud to take the position of chief of the emperor's security. During his 10 years in Constantinople (1035-1045), Harald participated in 18 battles, and upon returning to his homeland, he fought in Europe for another 20 years. In Italy, at the end of the Middle Ages, mercenary condottieri, who always had a detachment of experienced soldiers at their disposal, became the main active force in endless wars between city-states. Professionalism reached such heights there that when confronted in battle, the opponents were primarily concerned with outmaneuvering each other through skillful formations of troops, and tried their best not to harm each other. There is a known case when, as a result of a stubborn battle for many hours, only one person was killed.

During the same era, a correspondence discussion took place between Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas More. The latter, depicting an ideal state in his “Utopia,” argued that its protection should be provided by an army of barbarian mercenaries, since the life of a citizen is too valuable. Machiavelli, whose experience of dealing with mercenaries was not only theoretical, in his famous book “The Prince” argued the exact opposite: mercenaries, whose goal is to get money, are not at all eager to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield. The founder of political realism reasoned quite cynically: a mercenary who suffers defeats is bad, but a mercenary who wins victories is much worse. For obvious reasons, he wonders: is the sovereign who hired him really so strong, and if not, then why not take his place? It must be admitted that the most successful of the Italian condottieri followed exactly the script prescribed by Machiavelli. Most shining example- condottiere Muzio Attendolo, nicknamed Sforza (from sforzare - “to overcome by force”), a former peasant who laid the foundation for the dynasty of the Dukes of Milan.

In the 15th-17th centuries, a decisive role in European wars was played by landsknechts - independent detachments of mercenaries from different European countries. The organization of the Landsknecht detachments was maximally focused on ensuring efficiency. For example, for every four hundred soldiers there was a translator from several European languages, and the captain, commander of the detachment, was obliged to speak these languages himself.

In the 17th century, the famous “flights of the wild geese” began—that’s what Irish mercenary groups called their way to continental Europe. The first such “flight” took place in 1607, and over the next three centuries the Irish, demonstrating desperate courage, fought in all known wars, and not only in the Old World. Irish mercenaries participated in the creation of several states in Chile, Peru and Mexico, four Irish were close aides of George Washington during the Revolutionary War, and the other four signed the Declaration of Independence.

Finally, the welfare of entire nations was based on mass service in foreign countries. A classic example is the Swiss, who offered their swords to all the monarchs of Europe. So, in 1474, the French king Louis XI entered into an agreement with several Swiss villages. The monarch obliged each of them, as long as he was alive, to pay 20,000 francs annually: for this money, the villages were supposed to supply him with armed men if the king was at war and required help. The salary of each mercenary was four and a half guilders per month, and each trip to the field was paid at triple the monthly rate.

"Anabasis" by Xenophon

This is a classic military narrative of Antiquity - the story of the exploits of 13,000 Greek soldiers who contracted to participate in the war of the Persian king Cyrus the Younger against his brother Artaxerxes, who ruled Babylon. In the decisive battle of Kunax (401 BC), a complete victory was won: the Greek mercenaries overthrew the troops of Artaxerxes. Cyrus the Younger, who longed for the death of his brother, broke through to the tent of Artaxerxes, but was killed, and the Persian part of his army immediately surrendered. The Greeks also entered into negotiations, but were not going to give up: “It is not fitting for the winners to surrender their weapons,” they said. The Persians invited the straightforward Greek commanders to negotiate, promising immunity, but killed them in the hope that the leaderless mercenaries would turn into a herd. But at a general meeting the Greeks chose new commanders (among them was Xenophon, a student of Socrates), who led them home. It took eight months of hard travel from Babylon, along the Tigris, through the Armenian Highlands (here the Greeks saw snow for the first time), through the lands of foreign tribes, with whom they had to fight all the time, but thanks to their courage and training, the Greeks completed the unprecedented march and reached the Black Sea.

African adventures

The widespread use of mercenaries in the pre-industrial era is primarily due to the fact that military victory, due to the relative small number of armies, largely depended on the individual training of each warrior. Everything was determined by how deftly he handled a sling and javelin or a sword and musket, and whether he knew how to maintain formation in a phalanx or square. A trained professional warrior was on the battlefield worth a dozen, or even hundreds of peasant sons, herded into a feudal militia. But only the wealthiest of monarchs could afford to have a permanent professional army, which would have to be fed even in peacetime. Those who were poorer had to hire landsknechts just before the war. It is clear that they received money, at best, as long as the fighting lasted. And more often, the employer ran out of funds earlier, and the mercenaries could only count on victory and capturing trophies.

The advent of the industrial age reduced mercenary activity to almost nothing. The unified production of effective and at the same time easy-to-handle weapons made years of training unnecessary. The time has come for conscript armies. If military wisdom can be taught in just three or four years, if it can be quickly (the appearance of railways) gather people around the country, there is no need to maintain a large army in peacetime. Instead, all men in the country, after undergoing military training, became reservists in a mass mobilization army. Therefore, the First and Second World Wars, where millions took part in the battles, actually went without mercenaries. And they were in demand again in the 60s of the 20th century, when the decolonization of Africa began.

In countries where colonial administrative structures disintegrated, and there were no armies at all, an armed struggle for power immediately began. In this situation, a couple of hundred professional military men, familiar with guerrilla and counter-guerrilla tactics, made president and prime minister of any tribal leader or retired official of the old colonial administration who hired them.

In 1961, a long civil war engulfed one of the richest African states, Congo. Almost immediately after the country declared its independence, the province of Katanga, famous for its diamond mines and copper mines, announced its separation. Self-proclaimed Prime Minister Moise Tshombe began to recruit his own army, the backbone of which was made up of French and British mercenaries, and the conflict instantly fit into the context cold war: The USSR declared support for the central government, which was headed by Patrice Lumumba. Tribal clashes broke out in the Congo, killing tens of thousands of civilians.

In all this bloody whirlwind, in which several tribal groups, UN troops, and Belgian paratroopers took part, mercenaries played a decisive role. It was in the Congo that the stars of the most famous “soldiers of fortune” rose - the Frenchman Bob Denard and the British Michael Hoare, from whose biographies one can write the history of the most famous 20 years of mercenaryism. And the bloodiest: as a result of the events of the 1960-1970s, mercenaries began to be looked at as bandits. It was not for nothing that Denard’s team called themselves les affreux - “the terrible”: torture and murder were the norm in this unit. However, the cruelty of the European “soldiers of fortune” hardly overshadowed the inhumanity of other participants in conflicts in Africa. Michael Hoare recalled with some confusion that he witnessed how Chombov's men boiled a prisoner alive. And the constantly rebellious Simba tribe, which was supported by Cuban and Chinese instructors, was little inferior in cruelty to its fellow countrymen.

Bob Denard

One biographer called him "the last pirate." A sailor in the French navy, a colonial police officer in Morocco, and a professional mercenary, Denard managed to try himself in various roles. In addition to the Congo, the “soldiers of fortune” under his command fought in Yemen, Gabon, Benin, Nigeria and Angola. In the late 1970s, through the efforts of Denard, the Comoros became a promised land for mercenaries. In 1978, he returned to power the republic, which declared independence in 1975, its first president, Ahmed Abdallah, and headed the presidential guard for the next 10 years. At this time, Comoros turned into a real mercenary republic. Denard himself became the largest property owner in the Comoros, converted to Islam and started a harem. After unsuccessful attempt After the coup in 1995, Denard, evacuated to France, unexpectedly became involved in several criminal cases, not only in his homeland, but also in Italy. Although one of the retired French intelligence chiefs confirmed that the mercenaries almost always acted “at the request” of the French intelligence services, Denard received four years in prison, but did not spend a single day there: during the process, the “last pirate” fell ill with Alzheimer’s disease and died in 2007.

Soldiers of Misfortune

The Renaissance did not last long, and already at the end of the 1970s the decline of traditional mercenaries began. It all started with the trial of white mercenaries captured by government forces in Angola. The authorities of this country, who seemed to have chosen the “path of socialist development,” supported the USSR and its satellites (in particular Cuba). And the process had an obvious political background - it was supposed to demonstrate that Angola had become a victim of aggression by Western intelligence services. The trial was well prepared: from the interrogations of the accused and witnesses, a far from romantic picture emerged of how clever recruiters seduce unemployed alcoholics with easy money. But the “seduced” did not receive leniency: three mercenaries were sentenced to death, and another two dozen went to prison for a long time.

And then off we go. The coup attempt organized by Michael Hoare in the Seychelles ended in shameful failure in 1981. When Hoar and his commandos arrived on the islands under the guise of members of a certain beer club that organizes entertainment tours once a year, a disassembled Kalashnikov assault rifle was found in their luggage at customs. The “tourists” were surrounded, and they barely managed to escape on an Indian Air plane hijacked right there at the airport. In South Africa, where the mercenaries flew, they were immediately arrested, and Hoar ended up in prison, after which he retired.

It turned out even worse with Bob Denard. In 1989, Ahmed Abdallah, his protege as President of Comoros, was killed, and he himself was evacuated by French paratroopers. In 1995, at the head of three dozen fighters, Denard landed in the Comoros, where another three hundred armed people were waiting for him, preparing a new military coup. But the President of Comoros turned for military assistance to France, the country whose assignments Denard had carried out for many years, and the legendary mercenary was betrayed. Paratroopers of the Foreign Legion, who had fought shoulder to shoulder with Bob so many times, surrounded his group and forced him to surrender, and then quietly took him to France.

By the end of the 20th century, mercenarism in its traditional form fell into decline. Just look at the farcical story of the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea in 2004! The “mercenaries” who participated in it seem to have been recruited from among high-society slackers: for example, the son of the famous Iron Lady Mark Thatcher, Lord Archer and oil trader Eli Kalil were involved in the conspiracy (although among those detained there were also professionals - former South African special forces). The preparation of the plot was discovered by the Zimbabwean special services, the mercenaries were arrested, but they all got off with symbolic sentences, and Mark Thatcher, who lived in South Africa, received a suspended sentence and was sent to London under the supervision of his mother.

Michael Hoar

Nicknamed the Mad Irishman, Michael Hoare fought in British tank units during World War II. North Africa. After retiring, he organized safaris for tourists in South Africa. In 1961, Hoar appeared in the Congo at the head of Commando 4, which consisted of several dozen thugs.

Quite soon, under attacks from UN troops, he withdrew his group to Portuguese Angola and reappeared in the Congo in 1964: Tshombe, who had become prime minister by that time, hired him to suppress the uprising of the Simba tribe, which had previously supported Lumumba.

While carrying out this task, Hoar encountered another celebrity - Che Guevara, who went to Africa to stir up a world revolution. The Cuban commanders were unable to resist Hoar's mercenaries: Che Guevara was forced to flee Africa, and several dozen captured Cubans were hanged. Hoar's commandos, together with Cuban pilots hired by the CIA, took part in the most famous operation of the Belgian army, as a result of which several hundred white hostages captured by the Simba were freed in the city of Stanleyville.

Just business, nothing personal

The decline of “traditional” mercenaryism was predetermined by a radical change in the international climate. The Cold War ended, and the volume of covert operations involving mercenaries dropped markedly. After the collapse of the apartheid regime, South Africa ceased to serve as the main employer, the most important base and source of personnel for mercenaries. The “front of work” has also decreased sharply. African states, at the very least, created national armies, intelligence services and police and no longer felt an urgent need for the services of “soldiers of fortune.” And Western states, due to the all-conquering political correctness, began to hesitate to communicate with mercenaries.

As a result, the always drunk, weapon-laden “wild geese” were replaced by respectable gentlemen with laptops. And it was not clandestine “soldier of fortune” recruitment centers that began accepting orders, but private military companies (PMCs), providing the widest range of services in the field of security. According to experts, today more than two million people are employed in this area, and the total value of contracts exceeds $100 billion a year (that is, twice the Russian military budget).

The end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s of the 20th century was the peak of success of the “soldiers of fortune” and their public popularity. During this period, Frederick Forsyth writes his famous novel “Dogs of War,” in which noble white warriors give the black inhabitants of the country they captured a platinum deposit. At the same time, the film “Wild Geese” was released, in which the famous Richard Burton (pictured) played the extremely romanticized image of the dignified Colonel Faulkner, whose prototype is said to be Hoare (he also acts as a consultant for the film). As a result, despite the efforts of UN lawyers and Soviet propagandists, mercenaries in the eyes of ordinary people acquired the image not of bloody killers, but of noble adventurers, burdened with the burden of a white man. Photo: GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK.COM, EVERETT COLLECTION/RPG

At first glance, the only difference between representatives of such a serious business and Hoare and Denard is that the former are officially registered and have given an official commitment not to participate in any illegal transactions. However, it is not a matter of legal formulas. In the 90s of the 20th century, it suddenly became clear that legal customers represented by states, transnational corporations and international non-governmental organizations are much more profitable than candidate dictators. And the most important element of military operations of the last 10-15 years has been the outsourcing of quite important public functions to private military companies.

The current flourishing of private military companies is caused both by a revolution in military affairs and by changes in the political and social situation. On the one hand, the technological revolution made the existence of mass mobilization armies meaningless. New means of warfare, based on computer and information technologies, again, as in the pre-industrial era, brought to the fore the individual fighter - an expert in the use of modern weapons. On the other hand, the public developed countries is extremely sensitive to the losses among the soldiers of his armies. The death of military personnel is expensive not only figuratively, but also literally: for example, the death of each American soldier costs the Pentagon at least half a million dollars: special payments (in addition to insurance) and special family benefits, including funding for medical care and education. And a mercenary, even though his salary is several times higher than that of a military man, costs much less. Firstly, he receives his big money not for several decades in a row, but within short term. Secondly, the state does not pay for his death or injury - these risks in the form of insurance amounts are initially included in the cost of the contract with the PMC. And the losses of private military companies are sometimes comparable to those of the army. For example, in 2004, in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, as a result of an attack on a convoy guarded by Blackwater employees, four guards were captured by a crowd, killed and burned.

Private military companies made their presence felt already in the mid-1990s. Retired US military personnel hired by Military Professional Resources took part in preparing operations for Bosnian Muslims and Croats against Serbian military forces. However, these operations still fit into the old concept of military confrontation of the Cold War era: mercenaries were invited to operate in areas where the United States and Western European countries considered it inconvenient to participate directly. A true demonstration of the new face and new functions of mercenaries was the operation in Sierra Leone, where an extremely bloody civil war had been going on for several years.

A group called the Revolutionary United Front fought against the government of Sierra Leone, whose militants cut off the hands of civilians in order to intimidate them. Government troops suffered one defeat after another, the rebels were already 30 kilometers from the capital, and the UN could not form peacekeeping forces. And then the government hired a private military company, Executive Outcomes, created in South Africa mainly from former special forces soldiers, for $60 million. The company quickly formed a light infantry battalion, which was equipped with armored personnel carriers, recoilless rifles and mortars and was supported by several attack helicopters. And it took this battalion only a couple of weeks to defeat the anti-government forces.

The situation in the country has stabilized so much that it was possible to hold the first elections in 10 years. The nine-month contract with Executive Outcomes soon expired. The transnational mining companies that financed this operation from behind the scenes considered it a done deal. And they were wrong: the civil war began again. This time, UN peacekeeping forces, assembled mainly from units of African states, finally got involved. The peacekeeping operation, which cost about $500 million each year, ended in 2005 without significant results. An audit carried out by UN officials revealed the monstrous unpreparedness of the “blue helmets”: they operated without armored vehicles or air support and even almost without ammunition - there were only two cartridges for each rifle! And soon the government of Sierra Leone again turned to a private military company, which, among other things, began to rescue UN peacekeepers...

Far from being angels

Employees of one of the largest American private military firms, Blackwater, became notorious. In 2007, they staged a shootout in the center of Baghdad, killing 17 civilians. After this scandal, Blackwater changed its name to Xe Service, which allowed the Pentagon to enter into a new contract with the company to train Iraqi troops worth half a billion dollars. Another high-profile scandal occurred with employees of the ArmourGroup company, who were guarding the American embassy in Kabul. In 2009, it turned out that they were organizing drunken orgies on the territory of the diplomatic mission.

Profitable business

According to experts from the American Brookings Institution, the market for PMC services is over $100 billion a year, and over two million people participate in their activities. Such “grands” as DynCorp and Xe Service employ tens of thousands of people. But PMCs with a staff of several hundred employees are much more common. Most PMCs are registered in offshore companies, but, as a rule, their leaders and personnel are Americans and British. These companies gladly welcome veterans of Gurkha units, former soldiers of the Fijian peacekeeping battalion in Sinai, and retirees of the Philippine Marine Corps. And in lately Private military companies from Serbia are particularly successful in the market.

Changing of the guard

This story has become a textbook example of the ineffectiveness of UN peacekeeping and the effectiveness of PMCs. Experts pointed out that private military companies, firstly, do not waste time on political agreements within the Security Council and overcoming bureaucratic barriers. Secondly, unlike the governments of developing countries whose troops participate in peacekeeping operations, they do not skimp on the maintenance and supply of their forces. And thirdly, contracting to carry out a specific military task for a certain amount, PMCs, unlike states that receive about a million dollars a year from the UN for each peacekeeping battalion, are not at all interested in delaying the operation.

But the real flowering of private military companies began after US and NATO troops entered Afghanistan and Iraq. It soon became clear that the alliance did not have enough personnel to conduct auxiliary and related operations: escorting convoys, protecting government and international organizations, security of all kinds of warehouses. These services were offered by mercenaries, contracts with which were no longer concluded by the governments of developing countries, but by the State Department and the US Department of Defense. The American War Department even created special department, responsible for concluding contracts with private military companies.

In 2008, up to 20,000 PMC employees were already working in Iraq, while the size of the military group reached 130,000 soldiers and officers. As output progresses American troops The Pentagon is transferring more and more functions to private military companies, including, for example, training Iraqi military personnel and police. Accordingly, the number of mercenaries is growing: according to experts, by 2012 it could reach 100,000 people. The same thing is happening in Afghanistan, where companies like DynCorp and Blackwater have become essentially private armies.

The sharply increased demand for mercenary services has even created a personnel shortage. To perform simple security functions, private military companies began to hire local residents en masse, something they had previously tried not to do. Too active recruitment of personnel in Afghanistan even led to a conflict with the country's leadership. The Afghan president issued an ultimatum demanding an end to the activities of PMCs luring military personnel from the regular army. And the growing shortage of specialists with combat experience (retirees from the USA and Great Britain are no longer enough) leads to completely unexpected results. According to rumors, South Africa's special forces forces have been reduced by almost half due to a sharp outflow of personnel into the private sector, where salaries can reach thousands of dollars a day.

Russian specialists have also found their place in the modern mercenary market. International Charters, registered in Oregon, hired both retired American paratroopers and former Soviet special forces in the 1990s, who worked together and effectively in Liberia, where a bloody civil war broke out, killing tens of thousands of people. And this is not surprising: in the mercenary international, former opponents get along well with each other. Perhaps this is a consequence personnel policy the leadership of private military companies, which, as a rule, care little about the past of their subordinates and who fought on which side before. In the community of modern mercenaries, former Serbian special forces are equally highly valued (human rights activists have repeatedly criticized the British company Hart Group for hiring large groups Serbs who fought in Bosnia and may be involved in war crimes) and their colleagues from Croatia.

This “promiscuity” of private military companies can be explained simply: if you require a candidate to be a mercenary to have combat experience, then it is hardly possible to place high moral demands on him. And several high-profile scandals, associated with the personnel of various PMCs, serves as confirmation of this. And yet, the demand for the services of modern mercenaries is growing. Despite all the ambiguity of the experience of private military companies, it should be recognized that they are becoming an important military force not because politicians change their moral guidelines, but because military technologies are rapidly changing.

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 there are many indications that in recent days he has made great progress 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 completed military service, 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 to 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: new method waging war?

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: Well, 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: the 1st Guards Missile Brigade (military unit 31853), the 10th separate special forces brigade of the 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 manager 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. It's about 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 everything is 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, peacekeeping operation- this is the protection of 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 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 “can greatly destabilize the Central Asian neighbors of the Russian Federation, and this is a 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.

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PMC (private military company) is an organization that provides paid special services within the framework of security, defense, intelligence and active offensive activities, in relation to someone else’s interests.

Often, contracts provide for the development of strategy, development of delivery routes, advisory work and training of military units, their subunits, as well as direct participation in hostilities.

History of PMCs

The beginning of the existence of PMCs is considered to be 1967. It was then that British Colonel D. Sterling developed the structure of PMCs and created the private organization “Watchguard International”. It provided paid services to protect the interests of one of the parties in armed conflicts, provided special training for police, and guarded important facilities in third countries.

Experience has shown that services are in demand and bring good income. This served as the defining argument for the creation of such organizations.

An increase in the number of “soldiers of fortune” occurred in the seventies of the last century. It is enough to note that already in 1974, the American PMC Vinnell Corp. A half-billion-dollar government agreement was concluded to protect Saudi Arabia's oil rigs, as well as to rigorously prepare their armed forces for defensive and offensive operations.

After the conclusion of the US government agreement, the official involvement of PMCs as a military contractor began to carry out “special” missions:

with the outbreak of hostilities in Angola, in many countries of the western continent of the British “Security advisory services”, recruitment points are organized, and from those who wish, PMC units are formed. The employer provided weapons and equipment to perform the tasks;
in 1979 The magazine “International Affairs” provides data for the previous year showing that in eastern countries, Western “partners” used more than 11.0 thousand US foreign mercenaries;
1980, was marked by the first congress of professional mercenaries held in the world, and the next year a regular conference of organizers of private armies was held;
1999— The United States regulated the procedure for interaction between PMCs and the army during military operations;
since 2000, global corporations began to actively use the services of PMCs, protecting interests in unstable regions;
in 2001, a coordinating body for the work of PMCs and conventional security structures has been formed - the Peace Operations Association (POA);
the beginning of the Iraqi company allowed the creation of the coordination association “Private Security Company Association of Iraq” (PSCAI ) , which included more than forty military and paramilitary organizations;
In 2004, Iraqi administration , A decision was made that employees who were sent to the Middle East by US military companies (including PMCs) are not subject to jurisdiction for crimes committed by looters. This position is still projected onto all territories where military events are taking place under the auspices of the United States.

Company services

Private paramilitary companies today perform a variety of missions in different theaters of war. Their level of complexity is determined by the available support and the number of personnel:

Academy Academy- the largest PMC in the world. The number of mercenaries is represented by at least 20.0 thousand people (2/3 active, 1/3 in reserve). In addition to ground weapons, it has an aviation fleet (helicopters, airplanes, unmanned aerial vehicles). Forces and means are used during combat operations, protection of high-ranking persons, and business. There are known cases of the use of weapons without justification, resulting in the death of civilians.
Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI). The company is characterized by the fact that it is supported by more than three hundred generals of the United States Army. She participated in operations in the East and Afghanistan, where more than three thousand soldiers took part in the war. The fact that employees of the company were training the Kosovo Liberation Army was also confirmed. At the same time, training and training of Georgian army soldiers was carried out. While participating in the Kosovo operation, they were suspected of providing assistance to persons involved in organ trafficking.

FDG Corp. In the military services market since the end of the last century. The main specialization of the company was the fight against Somali pirates. She defended the interests of the legitimate leadership of this country. The main activity was mine clearance and disposal of ammunition, but at the same time separate group combat swimmers performed special tasks.

The range of PMCs is much wider than what is represented. The organizers in most cases are citizens of the United States and Great Britain. The activity is closed, since it is illegal for residents of the states in whose territory they operate.

Legal status

this year, based on the facts of the activities of the Luanda PMC, a trial of mercenaries was held, with a death sentence imposed

Mercenary troops are prohibited in Russia and the world. The authorities of many states from the UN rostrum officially declare the inadmissibility of military mercenarism, but international measures have not yet been accepted.

The British Parliament was forced to recognize the activities of this company as illegal (prohibition of recruitment for the war of 1870), but no measures were taken against the attitude of the organizers.

In 1979, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the development of documents to combat mercenarism. A committee was created that united more than thirty countries of the world, but its work did not produce results - the ban was not enshrined until 1987.

Military mercenaries of the German PMC "KIT"

In the Russian Federation, as in many countries of the world , The law provides for criminal liability for organizing PMCs and participating in their activities as a mercenary:

The concept of a mercenary in Russia implies the actions of citizens aimed at obtaining financial benefits in countries that are one of the parties to a military conflict, without being their subjects, without permanently residing on their territory and without being directed by the state.
Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for activities related to organizing enterprises related to mercenarism provides for:

for recruitment and other actions, up to the direct participation of the recruited person in the field of armed conflict - imprisonment for eight years;
when using a position in the service or recruiting a person under eighteen years of age - up to a fifteen-year term with the application of penalties;
direct participation of a mercenary - up to a seven-year term.

Article 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the formation of detachments (other units) not provided for by law, provision of financing or management of them provides for:

imprisonment up to twenty years;
participation in such a unit - up to fifteen years.

It should be noted that the voluntary termination of participation of a Russian in such formations, without involvement in committing crimes, provides an opportunity to avoid criminal liability. Russian mercenaries are outside the law in our country.

Russian mercenary troops

Currently, there is a bill to give a certain status to paramilitary organizations whose work is aimed at combating terrorism and organized crime.

In the Russian Federation, there are no examples of foreign companies.

However, according to the funds mass media and testimonies of individual citizens, the country has organizations that many consider to be mercenary troops of Russia:

PMC Wagner is a fake mercenary army of Russia, there is no registration information, but participation in hostilities is attributed to the territory of the republics: Syria, Donbass, Libya, Sudan, for which they were included in the United States sanctions list last year;
Slavic Corps, considered one of Wagner's divisions;
Ferrax - private military company in Russia (information is as limited as possible).

These paramilitary forces provide services within the framework of the current legislation of Russia, their list is presented as follows:

Security particularly important commercial and other facilities, individuals;
Escort automobile convoys, railway cargo, sea transportation, to prevent criminal attacks by criminals and other elements;
Advisory services private commercial security companies. Training their employees in methods and means of protecting protected objects. Methods of handling weapons.

At the same time, there is information that employees of these companies carry out reconnaissance activities and actions aimed at preventing critical situations on a contractual basis. But there is no private army in Russia, and there never has been, no matter what anyone says.

How can you get into a PMC?

A private army is prohibited by law in Russia. In foreign PMCs, there are no special requirements for candidates to join general units.

Without focusing on the possible attraction of citizens to work in such units, preference is given to people with no previous convictions, dismissed from the armed forces on non-discreditable grounds.

Persons not suspected of connections with terrorist organizations, who respect the rights and freedoms of citizens. In addition, persons may be admitted whose health indicators must meet the following:

age after military service, but not older than 45 years;
height from 175.0 cm;
eliminating addictions (smoking and others);
sufficient physical fitness;
no contraindications for work under any conditions;
psyche resistant to stress, balanced.

Outside of competitive conditions, candidacies of former officers with combat experience in leading units, veterans of hot spots, and former contract soldiers with training in military specialties are considered.

Particular attention is paid to the presence of special skills:

Knowledge of foreign languages.
Personal skills in using weapons (for officers, former military personnel, ability to teach efficiently).
Experience of operating in military combat or special climatic conditions.
Special physical training, including knowledge of applied types of wrestling.
Permits for the right to carry weapons.
Ability to carry out any orders and the ability to work in a team.
Vehicle driving skills.

Making a decision to sign a contract with a private military company must be accompanied by a thoughtful assessment of one’s capabilities and an understanding of the consequences of this step.

Before directly performing assigned duties, the candidate undergoes grueling training, and the duration of the business trip cannot be less than three months.