Despite the fading of the Wagner private military company which attracted so much attention earlier because of evidence of its use by the Kremlin in its wars in Ukraine and Syria and the company’s increasing use of criminals rather...
Many countries have private military companies, Vladimir Pastukhov says; and there is no reason that Russia should not as well, especially in a world where many military tasks are outsourced and where there are some tasks states do not...
Moscow has now dispatched another of what it calls “a private military company” to fight in Syria, a reflection of its desire to avoid having regular army units there, its unwillingness to rely on the Wagner group alone, and its...
After the Wagner disaster in Syria, Russian and Western journalists reported about its training facility near Molkino where members of that “private” armed grouping were trained. But the Ukrainian portal Obozrevatel observes that “it...
There are many differences between the Russian seizure of Crimea and Russian actions in the Donbas, but perhaps the most important if sometimes ignored one is this, Pavlo Kazarin says. Crimea was carried out by the regular Russian army,...
With the passing of the World War II generation, few of whom now remain, Vladimir Putin appears ready to make “veterans of hybrid wars” a new symbol of the idea that Russia today is “a besieged fortress” and that it must restore...
The Russian State Duma will soon be taking up draft legislation regularizing the status of nominally “private” military companies, even though such mercenaries are banned by Russian law. And among the first places they may be deployed...
PMC “Wagner” has been in existence for several years. Hundreds of their mercenaries have fought in Ukraine. The head of the SBU maintains the SBU has detailed information about many of the mercenaries. 95% of them are Russian citizens....
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) recently unveiled a sensational report – the operation in Crimea, the shooting down of an IL-76 above Luhansk Airport, and the capture of Debaltseve, a crucial railway hub that Russian-separatist...
Vladimir Putin’s decision to allow foreigners to serve in the Russian military not only reflects Russia’s demographic problems and his desire to rope in more people from the former Soviet republics but also and perhaps more important...
On 11 October, a three-day meeting of the Synod, or church council, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, finished in Istanbul. It gave further confirmation that Ukraine is on the path to receiving church independence from Moscow – and healing...
