PMC Wagner and St. Petersburg Fountain
Yes, and the Russian army gives little reason to criticize it. Georgia, Crimea, Syria ... Tasks are solved. And they are solved in a situation where the armies of other countries would be much more difficult. Any "puncture" causes a flurry of articles about the weakness and inability of the Russian army to protect us. Whether it was a downed plane or a plane lost on Admiral Kuznetsov. There can be no casualties in our war. That is probably the main motive of such attacks.
It is clear that the enemy, and I consider those who periodically “foul” on our army as opponents, enemies, if you like, are looking for ways to defame our army in the eyes of those who see precisely the strength of the RF Armed Forces. The armies of Europe and the United States badly screwed up in Syria. It turned out that, despite the criticism of the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces, it is Russia that really wins. The rest just kill. They kill, not really thinking whom. A large-caliber artillery projectile in urban areas or a bomb is also selectively killed there. Peace is not touched, but the nearby militants (only if they are not "moderate") "mow" thousands.
Today, many publications have articles "from reliable sources from everywhere," in which the idea is actively promoted that Russia is not obliged to success in Syria and other places not to its army, but ... to private military companies! Not trained and constantly trained soldiers and officers of the Defense Ministry and other law enforcement agencies perform the most difficult tasks, but employees of private military companies. Former special forces soldiers and retired officers.
The funny thing is that even among our readers there are those who believe in this nonsense. Turn on the brain in order to understand that a retiree in 50 and older (and many in this category themselves today) can never more effectively “work” than a 30-40 old man. Even having excellent preparation in the past.
The first "attempt at writing" in this direction was made in 2014. It was then that in the press there were reports from "unnamed, but reliable sources" in the Donbass about the participation of PMCs on the Republican side in the conflict. It was then that the “journalists” threw this material in to see the reaction of the authorities of Russia, Donetsk, Lugansk and Kiev.
It was then that readers learned about the "Slavic Corps" and the "Wagner Group". The “smog” in the materials was such that only a truly prepared reader could understand where the truth was and where it was a lie. Therefore, the reaction was from the official and unofficial persons calm. Bullshit. What to comment on? There is a law, there is a constitution. Read, and everything will fall into place.
In order to understand this reaction, it is necessary to return to the sources of the appearance of these materials. In Russia, the dissemination of this topic is mainly the merit of the publication from the city, the "cradle of three revolutions" and the "Chizhik-Pyzhikovsky" title. Based materials on the study of the experience of warfare by foreign armies. This “Western cliché” was tried to “put on” the Russian army.
Western armies, in particular, the Americans, really widely use PMCs in other countries. It is caused by the fact that the great losses of the army in the conduct of hostilities can cause public protest and force the operation to stop even before its end. Such cases have been. In 1993, in Mogadishu (Somalia), Americans lost 18 people killed and about 80 injured. The operation was stopped and the troops were withdrawn. A loss of PMCs do not affect the image of the army. Nothing personal, just business.
Today, those who are "instructors" in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, most often the employees are PMCs. Former military personnel, but now private individuals.
Those materials were held without much excitement. Moreover, the journalists were "shamefully silent" about the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Constitution of Russia. Meanwhile, the participation of a citizen in armed conflicts on the territory of other countries provides for 7 full years in some Mordovian colony (article 359). And for recruiting, training and financing mercenaries - 15 years.
Very often, supporters of the idea of private military companies refer to the Montreux Document. It is in this agreement that 17 countries (Russia has not signed, if someone does not know) allow their citizens to provide services for armed security of facilities, maintenance of combat complexes, training of specialists, and so on. In Russia, by the way, there is a fairly strong lobby, which is in favor of adopting the PMC law and the Montreux Document.
In March last year, deputies Gennady Nosovko and Oleg Mikheyev (“Fair Russia”) introduced a draft law on the legalization of PMCs. However, we received a clear response from the government of the Russian Federation that the project contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Art. 13, part 5). Similarly, those who directly would have to deal with PMCs responded. The Ministry of Defense, the Federal Security Service and the Prosecutor General. Even the profile committee of the State Duma gave a negative review. The bill safely six months later was withdrawn.
From all of the above, you can make a simple conclusion. There are no real, legal PMCs in Russia. Those that are on the market under Russian names are nothing more than companies established somewhere offshore. Companies do the same work as others, but they are not connected with Russia. Accordingly, the Russians who work in such companies work abroad, risking getting into 359 article in Russia. As it happened with some "workers" of the "Slavic Corps" from Hong Kong. In January 2015, the leaders of the Slavic Corps, Yevgeny Sidorov and Vadim Gusev, for participating in the battles in the area of As-Sukhna (Homs province), received a year of imprisonment for 3.
Now about the main thing. About who today, according to some media, the “culprit” of the victories of the Russian army in Syria? It turns out the "Wagner group". It is about this company that you can read everything in the same "chizhik-pyzhikov.ru" edition, in the Baltic editions, in the Polish ... There is no sense to list the "friends". Readers are literate people. Themselves will find and draw conclusions.
For the first time, journalists from the “cradle of revolutions” in October 2015 gushed about this group. Then the country "boiled over" from the events in the Crimea and the Donbas.
Readers will remember the role of "polite people" in these events. And now, just to test the possibility of your brain creating "ducks", try to connect the Crimea, "polite people" and PMCs ...
It turned out nonsense? But it was precisely this nonsense that journalists from the city on the Neva gave out for verified information. Wagner's group, more precisely, a detachment of former employees of the "Slavic Corps", was seen in the "polite people"! In February-March, the "Wagner Group" allegedly actively participated in the events in the Crimea as part of the Armed Forces of Russia.
About a year later, a new message followed. Now the "Wagner group" is fighting in the Donbas. And as an independent detachment! I know that such units really were. More precisely, the group. Squad call these units would be a stretch. And they performed the tasks primarily intelligence. But they acted in 2014. When the Republican army received a normal army structure, the units merged into units or disbanded.
Who is this terrible omnipresent Wagner? From open sources it is known that this is Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin. He served in the GRU special forces brigade in Pskov. In 2013, he signed a contract with the Slavic Corps and left for the Middle East. It was there that he became the commander of a detachment of fighters from the company of Anton Andreev "Slavonik Corps Limited" (the official name of the "Slavic Corps").
Further more. The Wagner Group was just a treasure for various kinds of stuffing. The beginning was laid by the fairly well-known and authoritative edition of the WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) at the end of 2015. Then the journalists of this publication told about the death of a man from the "Wagner Group" in 9 in Syria. So what is next...
Today one can read quite serious articles about the "Wagner Group" as a strictly secret division of the GRU. The "irrefutable facts" of the subordination of this PMC to the Russian MO are given. This is the base in Molkino, where soldiers are trained before being sent to Syria. This and transportation of fighters on the Russian military planes. This is the supply of the "group" through the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation with weapons and armored vehicles.
Readers (as people connected with military topics) can independently add to the list of "military secrets of the most secret military unit" of the Russian army. You can write anything. Especially since the "excuses" have already been created before you. To refer to any of the "Wagner group" can not: there "there are very strict rules" about secrecy. And the violation of these rules threatens a person with "very serious consequences." A sort of symbiosis of the military unit and a gang of criminals who are "tied with blood" and "respond with life."
Likewise, you can talk about the "combat operations" of PMCs, referring to employees of the Defense Ministry, the FSB, the GRU, the sanitary and epidemiological station, or the environmental protection agency who wanted to remain unidentified. But the question arises: is there really a PMC or any security structures in the same Syria? Still, "smoke without fire" ...
The answer is simple. Yes, such structures really exist. And they are really guarding. Therefore, the personnel of those whom we know reliably, most often the former members of the security forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other security specialists. In February, 2016, Sergei Chupov died in Syria. Former officer of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, who at the beginning of 2000-s retired and began working in PMCs. Chupov went through two Chechen wars. According to some reports, he was part of the "Wagner Group."
Private companies that have their business in "hot spots" often use such PMCs to protect their business. Agree, any oil or gas pipeline - the object is quite vulnerable and expensive to neglect the security service. Losses may be such that you can generally lose the entire business. And to guard such objects with "watchmen" without serious small arms is stupid.
Attract army units as private companies can not. CSKA do not have such powers and perform completely different tasks. By the way, such protection is carried out by all companies that operate in difficult conditions. Companies from any country. Likewise, it was the officers of the private security committees who carried out the guarding of ships in the Gulf of Aden.
And the last aspect that I want to mention. He has nothing to do with our internal affairs. It is rather external. At the beginning of the article I wrote that our "friends" from the Baltic States and Poland write a lot about Russian PMCs. What caused such an interest in Russian PMCs in these countries? It seems that NATO has already sent a soldier there. And armored vehicles.
The fact is that the armies of these countries represent a pitiful similarity to the modern army. Any politician and military man understands perfectly well that such armies are needed only for parades. In real life, these warriors will not be able to do anything. Yes, and do not want. And "Leopards" and "Abrams" in the Baltic swamps are no more than a target. And to create the illusion of at least a ghostly opportunity to confront the Russian army is necessary.
It was here that it took a lot of stuffing about PMCs. The thought is simple. The Russian army is not stronger than ours. She's just bigger. But well-trained PMCs are really power. And such, against which the army is powerless. The Estonian hunter will be able to calmly restrain the advance of the whole unit. Moreover, it will act in native places. In the same way, trained guards will be able to wage a long-term war with an enemy army in the nearby forest.
The algorithm is as simple as a Makarov pistol. Here only with an evidence base complete sadness. And in fact, it turns out that the PMC Wagner won everything. And the Crimea, and in the Donbas hung, and now in Syria. What is the size of the company? "Academy" / "Blackwaters" nervously smoking on the sidelines.
And then, why only Wagner? No one else? Or is it all “even more secret” than Wagner?
Funny and disgusting. In proportion 50 / 50.
It's funny, because it's fun to watch as a bunch of keyboard makers every year wraps around Wagner more and more outright nonsense and nonsense. And the limit is not yet visible, to be honest. Having pressed off the Crimea, having broken VSU, having won terrorists in Syria, further how? Further, probably, Wagner will plan and carry out the seizure of the world.
Stop. Putin is taking over the world. According to those very gushing hypotheses of publications. Putin's right hand - Shoigu, apparently, Wagner was prepared for the role of his left hand.
One gets the feeling that Wagner PMCs are a sort of army. In the darkness. It’s just not visible. But this is another army with tanks, Self-propelled guns, and other things about which the "source" gushed. Well, the number, respectively. Here we are not even talking about thousands ... Dozens sit in darkness.
But that's not the point. The bottom line is how brains are treated today. And where does it all come from? We conducted our small investigation and, with considerable surprise, stated the fact that absolutely all the shouts about the “huge shadow army” of Wagner come from one place.
We have in St. Petersburg such a phenomenon as "Fontanka.ru". From there, and gushing. From 2015 year. Someone decided to “straddle” the theme of PMCs and with enviable regularity throws fountains away.
Everything would be okay, but as soon as the next fountain appears, our Baltic neighbors are immediately beginning to fan it. And then the Poles ... and off you go. Materials are cited, analyzed, inflated. And we have including.
And now a fair share of the audience begins to believe that the "shadow army" really exists. So frank conjectures and invented "eyewitnesses" and drop grains of doubt into the heads of the readers.
Here it is and disgusting.
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