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In 1991, the world's second largest military power and one of the world's most powerful
armies face an uncertain future.
Thousands of men of military age, with elite training and advanced knowledge in terrible
Soviet practices are signed up by military companies and survive as soldiers of fortune.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you have enough money, maybe you
can hire them...
The Russian team! But VisualPolitik fans, don't think for a
second that we are exaggerating. Around the globe there are currently dozens and dozens
of military force companies operating in international conflicts, especially in Africa.
They are the so-called PMC, private military companies. And no, we are not referring to
the guards that you find in shopping malls or to the neighbourhood watch service that
you have contracted.
We are talking about real organizations of soldiers with advanced military training and
equipment who are hired out for money.
Want to know more about the unknown world of "private armies"? Well... Let's get started.Are
private armies a phenomenon unique to Eastern European countries?
Well, no, of course not. Because even though The A-Team was a fictional series, the underlying
concept is very real. Much more so than we might think. Both in the East... and in the
West. Though, of course, there are some differences.
In the West there is also a significant industry of private military and security companies,
however, they are somewhat different from those we can find, for example, in Russia.
Thus, while Russian companies of this type do provide combat services on a regular basis,
Western companies – which are mainly American – focus mainly on providing military support,
protecting key infrastructure – including, of course, military infrastructure – or
carrying out advanced technical work.
However, they are usually – but not always – reluctant to engage in direct combat.
Stop! Hold on, wait a minute, because before we continue down this path the question you
are probably wondering at this point is:
On VisualPolitik, [HOST NAME] is talking to me about private military companies, but are
these types of companies really accepted by the international community?
Well... Well, let's say that here it gets a bit complicated.
You see, in 1989, after several atrocities committed by mercenary corps in Africa were
made public, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and
Training of Mercenaries was signed.
This convention, promoted by the United Nations, sought to ban both mercenaries and private
military companies, which it considered little more than an evolution of the former.
The idea was that, by the end of 2001, all countries would avoid the use of mercenaries
and private military companies. However, to date, only 46 countries have ratified it.
And, of course, among the 46 those who make most use of these services are nowhere to
be found. Not even a country like Spain is on that short list.
And, obviously, as you can imagine, neither the United States, Russia nor the United Kingdom,
by far the three countries that make most use of this type of service, are on the list
of signatories.
In any case, the point is that we are talking about a huge industry that, worldwide, moves
between $20 and $100 billion dollars a year, and that sometimes secures contracts as important
as these:
(In Afghanistan, "over $100 billion dollars spent on military contracts".
A Bloomberg report noted that in April 2021, 16,832 workers were employed by contractors
in Afghanistan, with 6,147 of them being US citizens.
That was more than double the remaining 2,500 US troops at the time. Politifact)
Yes, it may come as a surprise, but the use of private military units is much more common
than we might think at first glance. Companies, mainly from the United States and Russia that
then in turn, subcontract in many cases, or set up local companies in the field of operations.
The outcome of all this is that, If you need an elite corps to protect a facility, if you
need a team to provide advanced military training, if you need intelligence work, enemy agent
location, radar control, advanced missile management, whatever, just pick up the phone
and ask for a quote. Well, it's not that simple, but you get my point.
But why are we talking about Russia? What is the difference, what is the key aspect
that makes the Russian private military industry go so much further than the American one?
And perhaps the most important question of all: If you have to hire such a company, why
on earth is Russia such a popular choice?
Well, let's take a look.
(CROSSING THE LINE?)
Why has Russia become a Hub for private military companies?
To answer this question we have to look back: the fall of the Soviet Union left thousands
and thousands and thousands of servicemen out of work.
After the collapse of the USSR, the army experienced a significant reduction in the number of men
because there was a huge surplus. The Soviet Union had been a largely militarized state
and after its collapse, there was no need for so many military units and no way to pay
for them.
This meant that many soldiers, and even officers and higher-ranking personnel, had to make
a living. And when the only thing you know how to do involves military matters, well,
that's just a matter of course. Becoming a soldier of fortune became a logical choice.
And that is not all. The end of the USSR and the collapse of its structures also led to
a significant lack of control in the management of the arsenals, particularly in those that
lay beyond the borders of today's Russia.
In this way, for example, many Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters were abandoned and left in the
hands of ex-Soviet officers and pilots who chose a lucrative outlet for them and made
a profit.
And this is how the Russians became so familiar with the international military industry that
they gradually became a superpower in this field.
Now, if we move to the practical field, why resort to these types of companies and not
use the conventional army? What on earth are these companies actually used for?
Well, this is a fundamental question.
You see, in the case of American companies, the most accepted answer is efficiency. In
some respects, these companies manage to substantially reduce the operating costs of national armies
thanks to their specialisation in very specific areas.
For example, there are companies specialised in the protection of military airfields, others
in the security of perimeters in confined war zones, others in the control of checkpoints...
In some cases, they even provide services that many armies themselves are not prepared
to perform. This is something we saw for example in Afghanistan. The withdrawal of these private
companies made the Afghan air force practically inoperative.
In the case of Russian companies, in addition to these operations, there are many other
reasons.
For example, look at this. Yes, I know we have talked many times about
the little green men in Ukraine, and during the invasion of eastern Ukraine and Crimea
many media outlets said that they were Russian soldiers.
And... Well, the truth is, yes and no at the same time. Russian soldiers were on the ground,
almost certainly, it’s likely all were in the service of the Kremlin. But it is more
likely that many of those units that assaulted eastern Ukraine were part of military service
companies contracted by the Russian government itself or close to it.
Which means that, yes, Vladimir Putin may not be lying – at least not technically
– when he says that the Russian army did not invade Ukraine. Which, as you can see,
does not mean that Russia did not invade Ukraine.
Subtle shades of meaning.
In this way, the intentions and the result can be the same although no one can be 100%
sure of the authorship. We have to settle for 99%.
And, believe me, in the political arena, this is a huge difference.
The thing is that Russia has a long history of using both private military companies and
mercenaries in its history of military conflicts.
The most notorious, for example, is the Vostok Battalion, formed by Chechen warlord Sulim
Yamadayev in 1999, at the beginning of the second Chechen war.
Later, this battalion would also participate in the war in Georgia, between 2007 and 2008,
and more recently in Ukraine, where it has been renamed, in some cases, as the Donbass
Battalion
The point is that the methods used by this battalion are so brutal that not even Russia
openly accepts its relationship with them. The Russian government is content to say that,
well, they are simply local volunteers supporting their cause.
[You know, altruism taken to the extreme. All for the motherland Russia... Which really
means: all for Uncle Sam's banknotes].
The thing is that, this battalion that we have taken as an example, was supposedly disbanded
in 2009... But the truth is that it never did. And when 2014 rolled around and the crisis
in Ukraine was building, what better strategy than to fall back on these same troops?
Of course, it couldn't be that obvious. The "outsourcing" had to be improved
To achieve this, the Russian government prevented the battalion from having too many units linked
to the conflicts in Chechnya and Georgia. Thus, while the heart of the so-called Donbass
Unit was made up of experienced Chechen mercenaries, the bulk of the corps was made up of separatist
fighters from Donetsk who had been recruited earlier.
And of course it wasn't just the combat units. With supplies, weapons and other specialized
services, the operation was very similar.
And yes, that's how Russia outsourced the war to mercenary groups and private military
companies.
But, VisualPolitik viewers, it doesn't end here. The question we are wondering is, what
happens to all these groups when they are not working for the Russian government? What
is going on with this industry today? Who on earth are the main players?
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(RUSSIA, A PRIVATE MACRO WAR HUB?)
Let's start with a question: How many private military companies do you think there are
in Russia? 1, 2, 3... maybe 5?
It is estimated that in total we are talking about between 10 and 20 companies of this
type being registered. Registered, of course, in a variety of ways because legal, as such
they are not. Although the government itself is a good client.
In any case, most of them are registered as conventional security companies. Of course
there is not much conventional about them. And, not surprisingly some stand out more
than others and many are specialized in very specific fields.
For example, we have Antiterror-Orel, a private military company registered as a "non-governmental
education and training center". In reality, the company's activity is completely different.
For example, Antiterror-Orel is responsible for protecting, by any means possible and
on a large scale, the operations of several large Russian companies in countries such
as Iraq.
Another well-known example is Moran Security, a military company established by former members
of the FSB – the Russian secret services – and the Russian Navy
This company, Moran Security, for example, states on its website that it is dedicated
to escorting ships and recovering hijacked vessels. One of its best known operations
was the rescue of a United Arab Emirates ship hijacked in 1999 by Sudanese.
But that's not all. They also have a significant history of ground operations, including operations
in areas such as Iraq and several African countries.
And, by the way, in case you were wondering, yes, the company has its own assault vessels,
which have Cook Islands plates, and its own armored vehicles. And pretty much anything
they need to carry out their operations.
Because, obviously, the Russian government is far from being its only client. The presence
of these types of companies in many of the most significant international conflicts is
not exactly small.
But, getting back to Ukraine and the presence of private military companies in the conflict,
keep this name in mind: RSB-Group.
This is another private military company registered in 2011 also by former officials of the Russian
FSB and the Central Intelligence Department, better known as GRU.
This company, in addition to conducting numerous ship protection operations in African waters
off Somalia and the Gulf of Guinea or de-mining operations in Libya, also appears to be linked
to the invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian website Infonapalm claims that RSB-Group collaborated with Russian-backed
rebels in the Donbass, and that the company was also involved in the annexation of Crimea.
For Staver and Skomorokhov, two Russian industry observers, RSB-Group is the most complex private
military company and perhaps the most similar to those found in the West and especially
in the United States.
For example, they also have their own cyber defence department and it is even said that
they refused a request from a State to influence the elections of a foreign State. A client
which, according to them, was not Russia.
To show you the extent of the influence of these companies, in the last 12 years there
have been at least four attempts to make legislative changes to fully legalize them. Something
that Vladimir Putin himself has agreed with.
The problem is that legalizing them would mean regularizing them to a certain extent
and putting them under strict control of the FSB, the GRU or the Russian Ministry of Defense
or Foreign Affairs itself. So even they themselves do not agree.
Its current status of sitting just beyond the law seems the most convenient... For all
parties, including of course the Russian government.
For example, have you heard of hybrid warfare? Well, think about it, what better way to carry
it out than resorting to these types of companies?
Now, the question is: How do you feel about your country using these kinds of companies?
Would you be okay with outsourcing some of your national security or military operations
overseas?
Leave us your answer below, in the comments. And remember, if you liked this video, like
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Once again, thanks for being here. All the best and see you next time.