How our PMC “Wagner” is fighting in Syria. The defeat of the Wagner PMC by the Americans in Syria: details of the destruction of Russian mercenaries Russian Wagner PMC

Additional evidence of Russian PMCs operating in Syria has emerged. According to an article published on the website of one of the Russian online publications, a private military company called Slavonic Corps does operate in Syria, but was effectively disbanded after a single unsuccessful operation. The following was told by former employees from Slavonic Corps who worked in Syria.

By early October, Slavonic Corps, based in the Syrian city of Lattakia, had 267 people formed into two companies.

The plan was to deploy to the city of Deir ez-Eor to "guard" the oil fields there, which were vital to Assad's survival, although it was hinted that "guarding" might involve actual fighting.

PMCs received 37-mm M1939 anti-aircraft guns and 120-mm 120-PM-43 mortars (120-mm regimental mortar of the 1943 model) and presumably four T-72s and several infantry fighting vehicles. However, what they actually received from the Syrian high command were old T-62 and BMP-1 tanks, which could not even move on their own engine. So when they headed to Deir ez-Zor on October 15, they rode in trucks and support vehicles without any armored support.

They stopped for two days at T4 airbase, where the following photographs were taken.

Rare photo of a Su-24 bomber of the Syrian army with contract soldiers from Slavonic Corps in its background

On October 18, they were sent to Al-Suknah as the Syrian Arab Army and National Defense Forces were engaged in heavy fighting there. In a short skirmish near Al-Suknah, the Slavonic Corps suffered six casualties and was forced to retreat. During the retreat, one of the PMC employees, Alexey M., lost his identification card. This meant the end of Russian PMCs in Syria, at least for a while. At the end of October, Slavonic Corps was effectively disbanded and its entire personnel flew to Russia on two charter flights.

In the battle near As-Suknah, they violated the basic principle of Slavonic Corps Limited:

“The company’s activities are conducted in strict accordance with Russian laws and the laws of those countries where the Company protects the interests of Russian companies. Our principle is that we never participate in armed conflicts as mercenaries and never advise organizations, groups or individuals that have even the slightest connection with terrorist organizations. In addition, we never take part in events related to the overthrow of governments, violations of the humanitarian rights of civilians, or any other actions that violate international laws and conventions.”

Slavonic Corps Limited typically served veterans who served in Afghanistan, East Africa, Iraq, Tajikistan, the North Caucasus, Serbia and other countries. Many of the PMC employees probably participated in the second Chechen War, fighting with Chechens and other foreign mujahideen, whom they also met in battle near Suknakh.

The map shows the T4 airbase and As-Suknah on the road to the city of Deir ez-Zor

On the wall is the inscription "Assad's Syria" - the most common pro-Assad motto in Syria

It should be noted that according to one of the Russian online publications, the command of Slavonic Corps was detained by the Russian FSB upon returning to Russia and accused of recruiting mercenaries. Apparently, sending Russian mercenaries into Syria is not actually a policy supported by the Russian government at the moment.

Materials used:
www.spioenkop.blogspot.ru
www.tearkenstone.blogspot.ru
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.ru.wikipedia.org

In the compartment of the branded “Quiet Don” train, which departed from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow in early November 2017, a strange-looking medal was washed. In this award, the symbols of mutually hostile eras were clearly visible - the Prussian Iron Cross, the Soviet five-pointed star and the White Guard Order of the Ice March. Three men of different ages, approximately 20, 35 and 45 years old, did not fall into drunken courage afterwards; the awards quietly disappeared somewhere so quickly that I did not have time to ask about the origin of the strange medal. However, the path was not short, and little by little, first from scraps of phrases, then, when common tastes and memories were found, a whole picture began to emerge from frank conversations.

The three men were returning from a six-month deployment to Syria. We traveled under a contract concluded with the well-known private military company (PMC) Wagner, although the document, of course, does not contain either this pseudonym call sign or the surname of its owner - Dmitry Utkin, who, by the way, headed Evgeniy’s restaurant holding in the same November Prigozhin, also known as the “chief cook of the Kremlin.” They flatly refused to disclose the official name of the organization that hired them, saying only that this name is constantly changing. The legal address is located in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, on Ilinskoye Highway, in the area of ​​the military town of Pavshino. The contract period is from three to six months. The contract is signed at the PMC base in Molkino. The future fighter reads the multi-page document, signs it, and it remains in the company office. It is strictly forbidden to communicate with representatives of the media, so in this collective interview they appear as Sergei Ts., Gennady F. and Stepan M. These men were among those who put an end to the long war in the ancient lands of Syria.

On December 6, 2017, the Interfax news agency officially reported, with reference to the Russian Ministry of Defense, that “Syria has been completely liberated from terrorists, all ISIS gangs have been destroyed, more than a thousand settlements have been liberated, and main communications have been unblocked.” But in these victorious reports not a word is said about the contribution that ordinary soldiers of private military companies made to the victory.

COLLECTION PLACE: MOLKINO BASE

In the area of ​​the Molkino village, Krasnodar Territory, the 10th separate special forces brigade of the GRU (military unit 51532) is located. The Wagner PMC base is adjacent to it. Soldiers came here from all over the country. First, they had to pass a medical commission and various admissions tests.

“There was a medical examination, but the selection was more visual: arms and legs in place - and forward,” says Sergei. – They took everyone, because the PMC suffered heavy losses in Syria. They also had to run 3 km and do 40–50 push-ups (this was rated as “good” and “excellent”). Many did not pass these standards, but were enrolled.

A lie detector was considered a much more serious test. Every candidate takes a polygraph. For example, out of eight people in the group in which Gennady was, only two successfully passed the lie detector, including himself. Gennady still has no idea what the others were using, what kind of lies the PMC psychologists were looking for. But, in his opinion, this selection certainly did not concern the criminal background of the candidates.

Personnel accepted under the contract were distributed among “brigades.” These were not army brigades in their traditional form; the PMC brigades consisted of only 300 to 400 people, depending on the tasks assigned to them.

FLIGHT ROSTOV-ON-DON – DAMASCUS

We departed from Rostov-on-Don International Airport on April 25, 2017, on a regular charter flight. They did not put a visa in the passport; the border guards only stamped the departure note (and upon return, another arrival note). The Syrian Border Service does not appear in the documents at all. In total, one and a half hundred PMC fighters flew in the Boeing; a day or two later, the second half of the “brigade” arrived in the same way. We flew to Damascus in civilian clothes and changed clothes at the Syrian base, that is, in the middle of the desert. They took military uniforms with them, and everyone dressed according to their own taste. The desert uniform of the British SAS special forces is considered the most comfortable, the best in strength and color, followed by the uniform of the American special forces. So, in appearance, the Russian fighters were no different from a detachment of Anglo-Saxon special forces. The Syrian uniform, according to the unanimous opinion of the interlocutors, is of very poor quality.

OIL FIELDS AL-SHAIR

The PMC fighters did not go through security control at Damascus airport; they immediately boarded buses and off they went. Where?

“The rank and file are never told where, how long to go and what they will do,” says Stepan. “We were brought to the area of ​​the oil fields of Ash-Shair, where we stayed for three months and only after three months did we find out what this place was called. 40 kilometers northwest of Palmyra.

They dropped us off right in the mountain desert. Some did not have tents, in particular Sergei, and for the first month and a half he lived “in the fresh air,” although it was raining and cold in the mountainous areas at that time. Only later were government-issued tents issued. In total, three PMC brigades were gathered in that place, that is, about a thousand people. What did you do?

“The mountains were on guard,” says Gennady. “ISIS spirits were sitting on the opposite mountain range. They were bombarded by aircraft all the time. Armored vehicles were transported past us every day - tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, about 60 units in total. Apparently, preparations were underway for an offensive.

At the end of August, the offensive began, and the fighters went through the mountains to the city of Akerbat. We descended into the valley and took the adjacent villages one after another.

"STORMS" AND STORM OF AKERBAT

The striking force of a PMC brigade in Syria is usually called “assaults” (with emphasis on the last syllable). In addition to “assaults,” there is also a platoon of heavy weapons, at its disposal are mortars, ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles), heavy machine guns, and AGS (automatic grenade launchers). Fire support squad. An armored group with an indefinite amount of equipment - from one infantry fighting vehicle to several armored personnel carriers and tanks, depending on your luck. The brigade's combat strength is about 200 people, those who have at least some combat experience. The remaining 100–150 are the so-called staff guys, servants, and personal drivers of commanders. The brigades are commanded by retired special forces officers (not a single career officer); there are practically no army officers.

“For example, the Syrian commander turned to the commander of our brigade,” says Gennady, “and offered several tanks for free, since the Arabs did not have crews for them.

The first to attack are the “assaults”, followed by a platoon of heavy weapons - mortars, heavy machine guns, ATGMs, etc. The enemy set traps, allowed several suburban villages to be taken almost unhindered, and just before the city of Akerbat the brigade encountered an iron defense, where dozens died. There were specific battles here, for every house. They found documents of ISIS members (they were handed over to the PMC special officers), they came across notebooks with prayers in Russian, and there were many Uzbek names on the lists.

“Only Russian PMC brigades took Akerbat,” says Sergei, the other two nod their heads in agreement. – The Syrians came to the final stage to film for TV news. We even hid so as not to get into the frame when the Syrians posed with a heroic look.

OFFICIAL REPORT ON THE CAPTURE OF AKERBAT

So, the fighters of the Wagner PMC claim that they captured Akerbat on their own; Syrian government troops did not take part in the assault. The official version states exactly the opposite; the role of PMCs is not mentioned at all. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “On September 2, 2017, units of the 4th Tank Division of the Syrian government forces, in cooperation with units of the 5th Volunteer Assault Corps and detachments of the military Mukhabarat, with the active support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, liberated the strategically important city of Akerbat, where the “last major outbreak” was located resistance" of terrorists of the IS organization banned in Russia ("Islamic State" is an international terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation).

The government “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” in those days conveyed a message from the commander of the Russian military group in Syria, Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, who, in particular, noted that “to support the offensive of the Syrian army in the Akerbat area, Russian aviation carried out 329 bomb and missile strikes, as a result which resulted in the destruction of 27 units of militants’ armored vehicles, 48 ​​pickup trucks with large-caliber weapons installed, and more than 1,000 militants.” The general also said that ISIS in Akerbat used an unprecedented number of suicide bombers. According to him, “from 15 to 25 militants with suicide belts and four to five jihad mobiles were destroyed every day.” But the general kept silent about the fact that this destruction work was done by guys from the Wagner PMC.

PERFUME

“Almost all ISIS fighters wear a suicide belt,” says Stepan. – Such a beautiful thing, neat, light weight. A plastic package filled with a transparent gel containing many, many metal balls. Because of this, we did not take a single spirit prisoner. One night, ISIS soldiers foolishly entered our village. Most of them, of course, we immediately killed, and several we chased around the village for some time. One spirit, apparently seriously wounded, called for help for a long time, and then an explosion thundered. The explosion caused a nearby wall to collapse. It turns out that he was twenty meters from us. In the morning they carried out cleaning, pits and basements were thrown with grenades.

“The tactics of the spirits are simple: when there is a night firefight, two or three suicide bombers get close and explode,” added Gennady. “This happened once or twice a week: an ISIS fighter would approach the wall of our shelter and explode. Quite a few died from such night raids: eight in one battle, fifteen in another, ten in a third.

“All the local residents had left the village by that time. In general, we did not encounter civilians,” Sergei assured.

DEIR EZZOR: SYRIAN STALINGRAD

They took Akerbat and told the PMC fighters: it’s time to get ready to go home. We were already changing into civilian clothes, and suddenly there was an order: to the cars in full gear. We drove through the desert for about seven hours, drove three hundred kilometers to the east and found ourselves not far from the city of Deir ez-Zor. There were two Russian PMC brigades that had already crossed the Euphrates on pontoons when the operation to unblock Deir ez-Zor was underway. We were given the task of liberating the adjacent island from ISIS. We carried out this task for about two months, the main losses were suffered in this place, mostly being blown up by mines.

RIA Novosti reports then said: “Advanced units of the Syrian army broke through the three-year blockade of Deir ez-Zor on September 5 and went on the offensive on the eastern outskirts of the city. Having broken through the encirclement of the Air Force base, and after knocking out terrorists from strategic heights in the southwest, government troops reached the western bank of the Euphrates River and crossed it, thereby displacing terrorist detachments in the direction of the Iraqi border and creating a ring around residential areas captured by the Islamic State terrorist group. neighborhoods of Deir ez-Zor."

Military expert Viktor Baranets commented on the lifting of the blockade from Deir ez-Zor: “The city of Deir ez-Zor is of strategic importance for the further actions of terrorists in Syria. If it is taken, it will be a strategic defeat for the militants, and it will be about the same for them as in 1945 for Nazi Germany. Deir ez-Zor has the same significance for ISIS. Defeat in Deir ez-Zor will mean that terrorists will no longer offer active military resistance. This will be not only a military, but also a moral defeat for them, and in front of the whole world.”

“What the blockade of Deir ez-Zor is, again, it must be understood in an Eastern way,” said Sergei. “All those three years that the blockade lasted, cars with food and consumer goods passed through without hindrance. No one suffered from hunger. They even joked that the Syrians said: we fought here for three years, fought, the Russians came - and the war began.

“And chaos began,” Gennady laughed.

Meanwhile, according to Sergei, while the spirits held the line in Al-Shair, the Kurds sent here by the Americans captured the oil fields. At the end of September, the ISIS retreated along flank directions, and again Russian PMC brigades had to return to “squeeze out the oil fields.”

“Apparently, the top officials came to an agreement, and the Kurds moved a little,” says Sergei. – Judging by the inscriptions on the oil rigs, some of them belonged to Europeans, some to Canadians. Canadians lost the most.

At the end of October, the mission of the Wagner PMC fighters was ending. In those days, ISIS cut one of the two main roads connecting the east and west of Syria. They took us along a longer route – about 800 kilometers. There were no incidents.

LOSSES

Over the six months of the mission, the casualties of one brigade amounted to about 40 dead (“two hundredths”) and about 100 wounded (“three hundredths”). The other brigade was more “lucky”: their losses amounted to about 20 killed and 70 wounded. And in the third brigade, in the first two weeks alone, they lost about 50 killed. Most died during the lifting of the blockade of Deir ez-Zor. Thus, a tenth of the personnel died, a fifth were wounded.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT

“The losses would have been much less,” says Sergei, “if the supply of the PMC group had not been so bad, simply bad.” Broken armored cars, five trucks lost in three days, there was nothing even to transport personnel. And the losses from this are high... and that’s it - they stopped! Collapse. No one is going anywhere, God forbid the wounded are taken out. And experience says that it is high time to transfer soldiers to armored vehicles designed for no more than 10 people. Although a year ago the equipment was decent - both weapons and equipment.

“This is just a beautiful television picture: tanks are moving across the desert in a row, followed by infantry fighting vehicles, and helicopters circling above them,” says Stepan. – In fact, there was very little equipment. Our “armada” moved partly on foot, and partly on KamAZ and Urals vehicles. If an ATGM hits a truck, then the losses are, of course, huge. And this saving of our military buns turned into huge losses. One of the leaders responsible for the military supply of the brigades apparently reported to the top how much had been saved. And for three brigades, that is, one and a half thousand people, they were given only five night sights!

-What about the spirits? - says Stepan. – For example, there are usually 30–40 people in a position, so they are given two or three night sights. When the spirits go on a night attack, five “assaults” barely see them, the rest don’t see a damn thing. The father commanders say: shoot at the flashes. And to do this you need to stick your head out of the shelter. And if you get into the night sight of an ISIS soldier, who definitely won’t play the fool, he’ll shoot right away - and you won’t have time to notice the flash. So it turns out: the spirits see everything, but most of the “assaults” are blind. And therefore the losses are huge.

- So how should it be? – says Sergei. – Like in special forces: each soldier has a night sight and one of the three has a thermal imaging sight. And so - lead people to slaughter. But the management of the PMC may have a lot of money, but they are not going to buy new equipment. I saw with my own eyes a unit armed with three-line rifles, revolvers, Degtyarev machine guns, and even Maxim machine guns. And at first I had a three-ruler. Body armor from the time of the capture of Kabul. The tanks are all “prize”, that is, captured from the Arabs, some resemble a colander. When I was indignant in front of my superiors, I heard: “Darling, why are you in a fairy tale? What they gave you, fight with.”

MILITARY TRAINING

My interlocutors divided the forces that fought on Assad’s side into three categories based on their fighting qualities. The lowest place is occupied by the Syrians, the middle by the Fatimids (as the PMCs called militants from Afghanistan) and Palestinians, the top by the Russians.

“Once a Fatimid detachment captured a bridgehead, then redeployed, and government troops took their place and immediately raised their flag,” said Sergei. “And our experienced fighter, who visited Syria five times, predicted: if the Syrian flag appears over the positions in the evening, then in the morning the ISIS flag will be there. We took it as a joke. And in the morning we woke up from a frantic stomp: 300-400 Syrian soldiers were running shouting: “The ISIS tank has arrived!” And indeed: a black banner had already been raised over the positions of government troops.

“Russians are unsurpassed fighters, especially in defense,” says Stepan. “No one could withstand our attacks, no one.” For six months, not a single enemy withstood the attacks of the “assaults”. Neither in Akerbat, nor in the Deir ez-Zor area.

“And even the Fatimids are well equipped,” said Gennady. – I myself saw how they drove “jihadists” through the desert on their motorcycles (that’s what they call an ISIS pickup truck with weapons; it differs from a “suicide bomber” - the same car, but stuffed with explosives). They abandoned this “jihad” as if there was nothing to do. Is it really possible to fight like that with our equipment?! Our gunners walk on foot, together with the infantry, there are three of them: one carries the installation, two carry one rocket each (each of them weighs 25 kilograms). ISIS also has three pilots, but they are on two motorcycles. On one motorcycle there is an installation and two people, on the other there is a third with two missiles. They made a noise and disappeared a minute later.

“I personally saw how a Dukhovsky ATGM knocked out three vehicles - an armored personnel carrier and two trucks - within 10 minutes,” says Sergei.

“The level of training of the Syrian troops is not only zero, but, one might say, minus,” Gennady picked up. – For example, out of 60 units of armored vehicles brought, as already said, to the combat area, about 20 ended up in the hands of the ISIS spirits who were in Akerbat. In general, tanks in Syria are a moving prize. There is even a joke on this topic: Russia supplies tanks to the Syrians, the Syrians give them to ISIS, the Russians come, take the tanks from the ISIS and receive a bonus for this. Again we hand it over to the Syrians - and everything starts all over again, the tank circulates throughout Syria until it is burned.

“Personally, I saw how Syrian special forces went on reconnaissance,” recalls Sergei. “We walked about seven kilometers and started yelling on the radio that they had run out of water, several people were hit (and these were indigenous residents of Syria). And they returned without completing the task. The Russians even had to endure sun-stricken Arabs on themselves. I agree with Gennady: zero level of training.

“All of Syria is approximately two Moscow regions, most of it is desert,” Stepan concludes. – It’s enough to liberate a few enclaves and a valley – and that’s it! And let the spirits ride like steppe hares through the desert as much as they want. The work is for a month or two, but no one needs it. Generals make money from the war, tanks and weapons are decommissioned, ISIS conducts trade with everyone almost officially.

PERSONNEL OF PMC "WAGNER"

“Despite the fact that many PMC soldiers served in the army and special forces, I will not be mistaken if I say that 90% do not understand where they are going,” says Sergei. – The desire to earn money completely blows your brain away. Therefore, having found themselves in a real mess, they declare that they came here not to die, but to earn money. These are called “five hundredths,” that is, deserters and refuseniks. They are immediately sent to rigging teams, that is, shell loaders, etc.

“And in life, those who came to Syria are mostly losers,” says Gennady. – As a rule, former cops, prisoners and military personnel. About 40% of the personnel served time for serious crimes - murders, robberies, etc. PMC fighters even greet each other like this: “Hello, losers!” It is noticeable that for many months before the business trip, and even years, they drank without drying out. In Syria it is forbidden to drink, their heads lighten up a little, and they make a vow to quit for the rest of their lives. They return to Russia with a million in their pockets and go into such a dive that a month later they crawl back to the base without pants.

EARNINGS OF A GENTLEMAN OF LUCK

A year or two ago, according to Sergei, fighters of the Wagner PMC earned 310-350 thousand rubles a month (240 thousand - salary plus 3 thousand per day - combat). In the spring of this year they had 300 thousand (with a salary of 220 thousand), and those who arrived in the fall earned an average of 200–210 thousand (the salary dropped to 150 thousand).

– What is the reason for the drop in earnings? – Stepan asked again. – I think with the fact that everyone steals, they steal everything. At some point, people lose their heads and start stealing without a twinge of conscience. We suspect that the top people still pay decently, but just below they come up with various restrictions that are associated with salaries. For example, there is a clause in the contract that states that a business trip starting from the fourth month is considered long-term and an additional thousand rubles are paid for each day. When someone reminded the boss about this point, he received the following answer in a very softened form: “Are you crazy? You already get a lot!”

- What about insurance? - I ask. – What amount is paid in case of death?

“You see,” says Sergei, “according to some rumors, three and a half million, according to others – five million.” Personally, I didn’t see anything about this in my contract. Although I could have looked at it: the contract is multi-page, and besides, the principle of time pressure comes into play. It says that you agree that you may not be taken out as a corpse. Also, according to rumors, they pay 50 thousand for a minor injury, and up to 300 thousand plus treatment for a more severe one. They say the treatment is good - in military hospitals in Rostov-on-Don, Kislovodsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc. Good conditions, highly qualified doctors. But there is one principle: no disabilities.

“I have an ambivalent attitude towards these private military companies,” Stepan adds. – On the one hand, they deceive, and it’s insulting. On the other hand, if you look at the situation from the outside, PMCs are removing unnecessary elements from civilian life (this is literally what the fighter said about his comrades, and therefore about himself. - A.Ch.).

As it turned out later, Sergei brought one and a half million rubles from Syria. I paid off my debts, bought a night sight, binoculars, warm clothes, and other little equipment. There is only just enough money left to get from Moscow to Krasnodar.

– What work is left in Syria? Protect oil fields and factories. They will no longer throw attacks.

After the withdrawal of the bulk of Russian military personnel from Syria, a significant number of Russian mercenaries remained to fight in the country, media claim. The reason for talking about this was the message about the death of several Russians in Syria.

Initially, it became known about the death of Kirill Ananyev, an activist of the “Other Russia” movement, in Syria. He died after the United States launched an air strike against pro-government Syrian troops in Deir ez-Zor province. Co-chairman of “The Other Russia” Alexander Averin confirmed to the online publication“Mediazona” the fact of Ananyev’s death.

Then information appeared that other Russians also died at the same time. Some media outlets, citing information from Igor Strelkov, reported about two hundred Russians killed; Telegram channels and social networks also included figures of more than 600 deaths. Officially, however, so far only three more names have been named: Stanislav Matveev, Igor Kosoturov and Vladimir Loginov. The fact of their death, according to the Kommersant newspaper, was confirmed by their relatives and colleagues.

The Conflict Intelligence Team organization (a group of independent non-governmental investigators) called these three, like Ananyev, fighters of the Wagner Private Military Company who were victims of an airstrike by coalition forces in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor.

After the airstrike, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that there were no Russian military personnel in the combat zone. However, the CBS television channel, citing sources in the US Department of Defense, reported that “Russian mercenaries” were injured as a result of the strikes. Previously, the topic of their presence in Syria was rarely raised in the media and did not attract general attention.

Alexey Makarkin, a leading expert at the Center for Political Technologies, agreed to talk to Polit.ru about what was happening. In his opinion, in this case, what was happening was actively discussed because, in fact, this was the first time that the American military attacked forces among which Russians were clearly present.

“I would disagree with the fact that private military companies were not talked about at all. There were publications about the same "Wagner", but this was not discussed so widely - it was discussed in a relatively narrow circle, much of it - on social networks. However, the topic itself was touched upon, even specific mechanisms for the formation of these companies were described. It’s just that it really didn’t attract much public attention, but now it has – because we’re not just talking about fairly high losses.

Although, of course, the figures mentioned may be seriously exaggerated: when they talk about supposedly six hundred dead, it is clear that this is nonsense. This figure, I think, exceeds the total number of participants in this operation. Therefore, the question arises about where these figures come from. And it may even be that some part of these huge and implausible numbers may be part of the information war.

There are those who would like to announce the size of the losses. But there are those who may be interested in taking this story to the point of complete implausibility. This reduces the credibility of any messages of this nature. So why did they pay so much attention to this case? I think for a simple reason. When previous actions were carried out (and there were many of them), internal Syrian forces acted as opponents. This was not the case in this case.

In Russia, little attention is paid to who Russia is fighting with. Yes, it is known that we fought with ISIS, an organization banned in Russia, and we also fought with Nusra, banned in Russia (it tried to rebrand some time ago, but it didn’t work out very well - after all, it is part of Al-Qaeda ", also a terrorist organization banned in Russia). But in this case, the blow was delivered by the Americans - not by some groups operating in Syria, but directly by the Americans. And this became a very serious event.

Yes, there was no direct clash between the armed forces of the two sides; moreover, it is now clear that both sides really do not want the escalation of the conflict. Russia emphasizes that there were no regular Russian forces where the American strike was directed. Russia generally distanced itself from this operation from the very beginning. The Americans also spoke out: they said that Russia assured them that there were no Russians in the place where they planned to strike. That is, it is obvious that the Americans are also not interested in greatly aggravating relations with Russia.

So both sides want to somehow soften the situation, but this does not make the event any less significant. The event itself, not its consequences: for the first time, the Americans attacked the advancing forces, which quite obviously included Russians. This is what caught my attention.

In general, we have a lot of conversations about how Americans are harming Russia, but I don’t remember such an incident. If we even recall the story of the Kursk submarine, at first there were versions that it sank after a collision with an American submarine. During the investigation, this version was not confirmed, but still such rumors circulated, and they aroused very strong anti-American emotions. And this time there is data about the death of Russians as a result of an American strike, and these data are fully confirmed.

This is about why so much attention has been drawn to what happened.

One more thing must be said about the private military companies themselves.

As far as I understand, the situation is very simple: we have experience of the Afghan war. The Soviet Union became involved in it, and conscripts were sent to this war. Then student deferments were cancelled. And when they started bringing coffins from Afghanistan, at first they tried to make sure that they didn’t find out about it. But it was still impossible to hide what was happening.

This led to a sharp increase in anti-war sentiment and an increase in protests. The "Soldiers' Mothers" movement appeared. And, in general, this became one of the reasons for the weakening of the USSR. Of course, no one would want to allow something like this in Russia, so only officers and contract soldiers are sent to war. And, in general, the attitude in society towards this is quite calm: when news appears about the death of a Russian officer somewhere in Syria, people believe that this is his job. Here you have the right to choose your profession, so society is much calmer.

At the same time, sometimes tasks arise that officers and a limited number of contractors cannot cope with. These are the tasks that private military companies solve.

In general, we borrowed the idea of ​​private military companies from the United States. But Russian private military companies are different. The American private military company is not just people who are not serving in the country's armed forces and are paid for military service, they are people whose work is still official, and very strictly official. This is not the case in Russia.

If we look at Iraq, people from American private military companies had a specific task: to be in support roles. Yes, it didn't work out very well because the Iraqi army showed its weakness when ISIS launched an offensive in northern and central Iraq. But still, people from American PMCs were assigned an auxiliary role; they do not replace the army. They perform special functions - mainly security, nothing more. In Syria, what happened differently: there the role of “private traders” is more reminiscent not of an American military company, but of the actions of the armed forces. These people are going on the offensive, as we see, which is generally impossible for a private military company from the United States.

That is, here “private traders” perform a military function. This is the difference.

By the way, it is interesting that in Russia, on the one hand, PMCs take on such functions and strive to borrow foreign experience, and on the other hand, if we look at publications on social networks, we will see a very strong desire to distance themselves from the Americans. They say that the Americans are still bad, their companies act incorrectly, they kill civilians, and Russians cannot be compared with them! Because Russians within this community are still perceived not as people who are in a foreign country at work, but as people who defend the interests of their country. This is very noticeable in discussions on social networks, where there is not a rapprochement with the American experience, but a very strong opposition to it.

In fact, these people who are at war perceive themselves as people who are not working for a private owner, but as carrying out a state task. This really makes a very big difference. But all the same: even if we look at what has happened now and at the public reaction to what happened, we will see that it is not comparable to what would have happened if there were conscripts in Syria, if soldiers were fighting there. Even if we look at what exactly is being discussed, it turns out that the question is being discussed about why exactly we collided with the Americans, what the consequences of this might be, and whether we will be drawn into a new war. And there is no public outcry associated with the fact that something completely out of the ordinary, unusual, and unexpected happened from the point of view of the presence of Russian citizens there.

We are already accustomed to the fact that there is such a presence in Donbass. By the way, to a large extent these are the same people - those who fought in Donbass in 2014 and those who now find themselves in Syria. This can be seen from their biographies, which can be viewed on the Internet. But the very fact that Russians are now fighting in Syria and they are fighting there unofficially is not perceived as something unexpected, shocking, and so on. That is, attention is still focused on this story due to the fact that we encountered the Americans for the first time.

Regarding what tasks they solve there: as we understand, these are tasks in which the army cannot be involved. In particular, in this case, it was a task related to the occupation of territory. There was a well-known story that when they fought with ISIS in the east, they expected that they would not only block Deir ez-Zor, but also occupy the territories north of Deir ez-Zor, on the other side of the Euphrates. These are areas where oil fields are located, which in peacetime constituted one of the bases for financing the Syrian government.

Then they came under the control of ISIS. Well, it is clear that government troops would like to return them. But by that time the Kurds had already taken Raku and moved south. And they occupied these territories. This came as a surprise to government troops. The scheme according to which they would occupy this territory began to collapse, but it was planned that the Syrian government would be able to restore production and oil refining there (there is an oil refinery nearby). In a word, the entire last operation was connected with the desire to recapture part of this territory.

But, as we see, it didn’t work out. The Americans took what was happening very seriously - as an attempt to redistribute spheres of influence. Well, what happened happened,” said Alexey Makarkin.

Russian officials say our troops are not participating in the ground operation in Syria. But is it. Journalists from Skynews interviewed two former mercenaries who fought in Syria as part of the Wagner PMC.

“Only a small number of instructors and military advisers,” Russian officials never tire of asserting that there is no need for a ground operation in Syria.

These claims about the low cost of the Syrian conflict for Russia may be seriously questioned by two young men who argue that Russian involvement in Syria has a much greater scope and a cost that the Putin administration is unlikely to acknowledge.

The interlocutors told reporters that they were recruited by the private military company Wagner to serve in Syria and taken there on board a Russian military transport aircraft.

For the equivalent of £3,000 a month, these men were thrown straight into the thick of fighting against rebel groups, including the Islamic State.

Two of this group, Dmitry and Alexander, told reporters that they were happy only because they were alive.

“About 50/50,” says Alexander (not his real name). “Those who go there for the money, as a rule, die. Those who go to fight for an idea, to fight against the Americans and their special forces, have a better chance of surviving.”

“About 500-600 people died there,” says Dmitry. “No one will ever know about them... It's a scary thing. Nobody will ever know."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned in February that the deployment of foreign ground forces in Syria could lead to the start of a new world war. Probably, in his opinion, Russian mercenaries are not included in their number - although analysts are not too surprised by this.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer believes that the use of mercenaries is quite consistent with the Russian doctrine of “hybrid warfare”.

“Obviously, Wagner exists. These kinds of “volunteers” appear in various conflict zones where the Russian government wants to be represented. First Crimea, then Donbass, and today Syria. And they are all there illegally,” he adds.

They accuse the Russian authorities of hiding this information.

“Did anyone tell you about this? Sometimes the bodies are cremated, and in the documents they write “missing,” sometimes in the papers it is noted that the soldier was killed in the Donbass, and sometimes they write - a car accident or something like that,” says Alexander.

Dmitry claims that Russian losses in Syria number in the hundreds.

“Sometimes they burn, and sometimes they don’t,” he says. “Often it’s just a hole in the ground. Much depends on how commanders treat the fallen soldier,” he adds.

Dmitry has already returned to Moscow, but his experiences still haunt him. When he was recruited by Wagner, he gave his documents. He went to the training ground to find them, but ended up with the police instead. The officer told him in no uncertain terms that "Wagner never existed."

Dmitry said that he knows of another 50 men who survived in Syria, who, like him, are roaming the streets of Moscow without documents.

“Nobody knows me. He just threw me out,” says Dmitry.

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

The actions of private military companies from Russia (primarily, the Wagner PMC, which most often appeared in the press) in Syria differ significantly from how such units usually operate, security specialist Tyrus McQueen told the BBC.

“Russian Spring” presents the BBC material without abbreviations.

In February, media reports appeared about the possible defeat of a detachment of Russians from the Wagner PMC in Syria. Various Russian and foreign publications wrote that in total from 11 to several hundred Russians could have died there.

Reports of the death of PMC employees from Russia in Syria appear regularly. As the BBC Russian Service managed to find out, at least 54 soldiers from private military companies from Russia died there in September 2017 alone.

Then more and more PMCs began to appear. There were more and more people wanting to earn money. As a result, wages began to fall.

I remember in 2008, under one of the contracts we were paid $400 a day. But then a company came along and offered the customer the same services, but much cheaper.

As a result, the director told us that the salary was reduced to $270 per day. Anyone who disagreed could leave. But we stayed. I heard that the Russians fight for 5 thousand dollars a month. I wouldn't go to war for that kind of money.

“There are no rights, but there is no need to report”

BBC: What is the difference between a serviceman and a PMC fighter in the context of their status and rights in the conflict zone? Is it possible to say that a military man is higher or lower in the hierarchy?

T.M.: The military is more tied to its infrastructure and hierarchy. Overall, this gives them more protection and more rights. But there are also caveats.

Look, soldiers and officers obey the army laws of their country, as well as the orders of their command. If you are ambushed or engaged in a firefight with someone while in the military, you are obligated to report it to your commanders.

PMC employees have more freedom. For example, you were ambushed. I shot back and moved on. You don’t have to report anything to anyone.

BBC: The military can't do that?

T.M.: No. Firstly, the military usually works as part of a certain group with a clear hierarchy. Privates, junior commanders, officers. Almost everyone has a walkie-talkie, some usually have a video camera on their helmet. It is impossible not to report fire contact.

In PMCs everything is different. We worked in groups of 5–10 people. There was no official hierarchy within the group.

Yes, there was one senior in the group. But he was just a guy who was paid more to make decisions on the battlefield. That's all. He did not have to report to the top about every step or shot.

Guys from PMCs are most often outside the law. For example, in Iraq, Blackwater employees were not subject to Iraqi law due to a ruling by the Iraqi transitional government.

At home, in the USA, no one touched them for a long time either. There were several ships. But these were rather show trials.

But this medal also has a flip side. PMC employees have practically no rights. Protection in case of problems too. The exception is when you work under a government contract.

McQueen also managed to work in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. But already as a bodyguard.

BBC: What happens if a PMC employee is killed or injured?

T.M.: Let's go in order. All PMC employees are insured. If a person is killed, his body is taken to a PMC base in the conflict zone. And then the deceased is brought home by PMC plane or insurance company plane.

The family is paid compensation as specified in the deceased's contract. The insurance company pays the compensation.

Dead PMC employees are not counted as military losses. This is partly why different states use the services of PMCs.

Now about the wounded. Usually PMCs have their own doctors or orderlies on the battlefield. They provide first aid and stabilize the condition of the wounded.

Then they take him home by plane. In my case - to London. And here the person is already being treated in a regular hospital.

If the PMC worked under a government contract, then assistance can be provided by representatives of the army. For example, when we worked for the US Army, our guys were treated in military hospitals.

BBC: What kind of relationship do the guys from the PMC have with the military?

T.M.: Usually very good. Most PMC employees are former soldiers of regular armies; they know very well what life is like in uniform.

In turn, many active military personnel look at PMC employees with interest. After all, this could be a continuation of their career.

There are no interaction protocols. But the military and private sector often help each other. When I worked for a PMC in Iraq, American soldiers helped us escape from an ambush several times.

BBC: Did you ask them for help or was it an initiative of the Americans?

T.M.: It happened that I was just lucky - a group was passing by. And it happened that they asked. We knew how to contact them. But help did not always come. This decision is always made by the group leader, based on his tasks.

Sometimes it happened that no one responded to our requests for help. The guys in uniform had to solve their problems or they couldn’t reveal themselves.

We also sometimes helped the military. But this was purely our initiative. They never asked for help, and we never conducted any joint operations with the army.

“We behaved no better than the Russians”

BBC: Can PMC fighters receive any rewards for their work? I mean medals and orders.

T.M.: No. What other orders? We received money. There are not even bonuses for performing a task well - only a previously agreed salary.

It seems that a few years after the end of hostilities in Iraq, a commemorative medal “For the Reconstruction of Iraq” was established. And several guys received it.

But this is not a military award. This medal was handed out left and right. And PMC employees never receive military awards.

BBC: You have already made several remarks about Wagner PMCs. How do you evaluate the actions of this company?

T.M.: To be honest, I don't really follow them because I'm busy with my work. But when I worked on contracts in eastern Ukraine, many people often mentioned the Wagnerites in conversations.

I personally have nothing against their work. Our PMCs worked in Iraq and Afghanistan. We came to Iraq and destroyed the country. There we certainly did not behave better than the Russians are now behaving in Syria.

Yes, the Wagnerites are now openly fighting in Syria. Usually PMC employees do not do this. But this development of the situation does not surprise me. Surely PMCs from other countries will follow their example or are already following them.

The war in Syria is increasingly turning from conventional to hybrid. This raises many questions about the future of Damascus and the future of the region as a whole. And perhaps this is not the last turn in the history of the development of private military companies.

Olga Ivshina

Tyrus McQueen is a security specialist. He served in the British Army infantry for about 20 years and took part in combat operations in Iraq. Since 2004, he began working for private military companies. Under the contract, the PMC worked in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a bodyguard, he ensured the security of clients in Libya and in the conflict zone in south-eastern Ukraine.

"PMC Wagner" is a Russian private military company, whose employees took part in hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine on the side of supporters of the Donbass republics, as well as in Syria. In June 2017, Wagner PMC was included in the US sanctions list. The PMC is not officially registered anywhere, and Russian authorities deny any connection with it. Mercenary activity in Russia is considered a criminal offense, but attempts are made regularly to legitimize the activities of PMCs.