Even in an era of moral decline of the autochthonous population, the rulers of the Roman Empire relied on mercenaries when military service turned from prestigious to onerous for their own citizens. The Persians also relied during the crisis of their empire on Greek mercenaries, who represented the most combat-ready troops of Darius III in his war with Alexander the Great. France actively used the Senegalese during World War I, Britain used the Gurkhas, and the latter were also part of the British occupation forces in Serbia. There are many similar examples of mercenary activities in world history.
A similar situation is happening today in the Western world, when the invasive policies of the current establishment of the Old and New World do not get a “surge of emotional support” from its own population, resulting in the fact that Washington and its NATO vassals have to turn to mercenary militias, that have long been transformed into the Western PMCs, “assisting units”. This tactic was used by the West in the war in Yugoslavia, because no one in the North Atlantic Alliance was willing to throw their soldiers into the Balkan meat grinder to enforce the geopolitical interests of Washington. Therefore, it is not surprising that the PMCs and Turkey were chosen by Brussels as the “main striking force” (or rather “the main cannon fodder”) in the Yugoslavia events, as it was not the precious blood of European masters to spill!
Therefore, the military and political strategy of today’s Anglo-Saxons began to actively use advanced weapons and PMCs, allowing them to destroy the enemy at a safe distance, while minimizing direct combat contact with them and their own losses. This was the case in Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen. There is nothing surprising here, because the PMCs usually employ former fighters, including those of special forces. Having combat experience, they take part in the most complex and dangerous operations. Accordingly, public opinion, both in the US and other Western European countries, is less sensitive to casualties among them. And their insurance and social security payments are considerably lower.
Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that former combatants living in the US or other Western countries, with their PTSDs and other mental traumas, become a significant burden not only on the social services of those countries. They deal considerable damage on the Western propaganda machine, periodically telling the media of their sorrows, hardships and the moral and physical damage inflicted on them by the authorities who sent them to war. The authorities of Western countries are therefore openly interested in getting rid of such persons on their territories by promoting calls to join mercenary forces in certain areas of armed conflict, which, incidentally, are unleashed and supported precisely by Washington.
This is what is happening in Ukraine today. In early March, the first 200 Croatian mercenaries arrived in Ukraine under the obvious influence of a Russophobic propaganda campaign unleashed by the United States, although the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, had earlier stated that no Croatian soldiers would take part in the escalation of the situation in Ukraine. However, it should not be forgotten that it is in Croatia that thousands of people still consider the Ustashas, who responded to the calls of their ideological friends, the Banderites, to be their heroes.
Multiple reports then appeared in various media that Syrian pro-Turkish fighters and former members of terrorist organizations were being sent to Ukraine. Allegedly, the US has purposely released prisoners in Syrian Kurdistan, and is moving them into the area of fighting.
Washington has “tasked” Ukrainian embassies with recruiting volunteers in many countries. Dmytro Kuleba had already announced in early March that “20,000 foreign fighters were ready to go to the front.” The cost of a professional mercenary is up to $2,000 a day. Given that Ukraine has long been a bankrupt country, it is quite understandable that the “fees” of the mercenaries will be paid by the US and its NATO allies. Again, professional mercenaries with real military experience are recruited mainly through foreign PMCs, mostly American, such as Academi, Cubic and DenCorp.
Most of the mercenaries enter Ukraine via Poland, with its large logistics centers operated by NATO military specialists and CIA agents, in particular in Lublin and Wroclaw Strachowice. They form military convoys travelling to the area of combat operations. Up to 17 NATO military transport aircraft with “military aid” arrive in Poland every day.
In general, the US is following a well-trodden “path,” tested back during the two Chechen wars in the North Caucasus when it employed mercenaries from dozens of foreign countries and almost all regions of the world. At the time, mercenaries with Canadian, Georgian, German, British, Danish, French, Italian, Swedish, Swiss, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian and other passports left their trail of blood in Chechnya. According to media reports, more than 100 foreign firms (including banking groups) were involved in providing material, financial and other assistance to terrorists in the North Caucasus, most of which had offices in the United States and Europe.
According to Ukrainian Minister Kuleba, citizens of 16 countries have already arrived in Ukraine. As noted by representatives of the Russian military department, now not only employees of PMCs, but also fighters of special operations forces of NATO countries can be sent under the guise of “volunteers” to conduct combat operations against Russian troops. These are people who want to engage in terror, to kill and have total indulgence for it.
Last week, 200 mercenaries from Croatia arrived in the country via Poland and joined a national battalion in southeastern Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said. In any case, all Western mercenaries arriving in Ukraine will have no rights to POW status, Konashenkov said, making their fate unenviable. All of them, as well as the military equipment and weapons coming to Ukraine from “external sponsors,” will be immediately destroyed.
This was confirmed, in particular, by the Russian army’s missile strike on March 13 on the centers of the Ukrainian armed forces in Starichi and the Yavorivsky military training ground, which resulted in the liquidation of up to 180 mercenary fighters and a large shipment of weapons from the West. This mercenary unit was planned to reach 2,500-3,000 men in the near future and throw it into the front line. Most of them had arrived in Ukraine hours before the Russian strike. There were also US fighters there, as evidenced, in particular, by US media reports. A few hours later, however, the few survivors made an emergency escape to Poland, telling their relatives on social media that they would no longer come to fight in Ukraine because it was not an easy walk.
Valery Kulikov, political expert, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.