Private military companies in the USA. Foreign PMCs American PMCs

The protection of ships from pirates, the elimination of a cell of a terrorist organization, larger-scale military operations - all this is the sphere of activity of modern PMCs. As a rule, these guys do not know fear, have serious training and extensive experience in participating in hostilities.

In the unstable geopolitics of the modern world, PMCs have become one of the most popular and effective tools in solving the military problems of many states. Private military companies have proved indispensable in special operations where it is not possible to use a conventional military contingent.

Protecting ships from pirates, the combat mission of eliminating a cell of a terrorist organization in another country, or even larger-scale military operations - all this is the sphere of activity of modern PMCs. As a rule, these guys do not know fear, have serious training and extensive experience in participating in hostilities.

Many of these organizations have offices around the world, others work with the UN as a security guarantor. They speak about their work in a variety of tones, but we will talk about the 10 most famous PMCs in the world.

#1 Academy (Blackwater)

The country: USA

Number: over 20,000 mercenaries.

Specialization: support for coups d'état and the established regime in countries where the American military contingent has been deployed. Many unofficial sources claim that this PMC works with arms smuggling and guards drug trafficking coming from the Middle East.

The loudest operations: Iraq, Baghdad, 2007.

In 1997, two Marines decided to create their own security company, ready to take on any job if it was well paid. Thus, one of the most famous PMCs in the world, Blackwater, appeared. The killing of civilians, arms smuggling, drug trafficking and coup d'état - as it turned out, many were willing to pay for the provision of such services, including the governments of entire countries.

It all started in 2002 when Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) received its first major contract from the CIA. Twenty brave thugs arrived in Afghanistan to guard the employees of the department, who announced the hunt for "terrorist # 1" - Osama bin Laden.

At the end of the six-month mission, the company generated $5.4 million. But the main thing here was not money, but the connections that the PMC acquired. After all, since then and to this day, the main customer of Blackwater has been the American intelligence services. And it was from that moment that Blackwater's reputation began to acquire notoriety, forcing the company's management to change its name twice. Today they refer to themselves as Academi.

The second major order was completed by Blackwater operatives the very next year. In May 2003, they were hired to guard US State Department employees in Iraq. As a result, the thugs hit the jackpot in 21.4 million dollars. But the most interesting was ahead of them.

Blackwater gained worldwide fame on September 16, 2007. In the central square of Baghdad, mercenaries staged a firefight, as a result of which 17 civilians were shot dead, and another 18 were seriously injured. A scandal erupted. And although there were children among the victims, the thugs did not suffer any serious punishment.

The Iraqi government tried to expel PMCs from the country, but to no avail. The very connections that Blackwater secured in 2002 had an effect. Refusal to extend the contract - that was the official reaction of the customer - the US government.

Subsequently, it turned out that the company's employees from 2005 to 2007 participated in 195 shootouts. In 84% of cases, mercenaries did not hesitate to open fire to kill, despite the right to use weapons only for the purpose of self-defense.

№2 G4S (Group 4 Securicor)

The country: United Kingdom

Number: more than 500,000 people

Specialization: transportation of valuables and money, as well as a complete set of private security services. Protection of strategic facilities and major international events, such as sports olympiads; escorting prisoners on behalf of the police.

The loudest operations: Between 2004 and 2011 swallowed up seven of its competitors.

The largest PMC in the world, represented in 125 countries. For comparison, the British army is 180,000 people. The headquarters is located in London.

G4S employees are hired to provide security at airports and escort prisoners on behalf of the police. The firm's clients include not only corporations, financial institutions and governments of sovereign states, but also airports, seaports, logistics and transport providers, as well as individuals.

In hot spots, British mercenaries are officially engaged in clearing ammunition, training personnel and guarding rail traffic. In 2011, the company's management signed the UN Global Compact, which is an international standard for promoting business behavior, including labor protection, human rights, anti-corruption and environmental protection.

Group 4 Securicor's most notorious victories were not on the battlefield, but, strange as it may sound, in business. Between 2004 and 2011 PMC swallowed up seven of its competitors. It expanded its activities to include not only security measures, but also the production of gadgets and security systems, which are now imported by the company around the world. Despite the fact that the company positions itself as a PMC, there is no information about the company's participation in military operations. But there is its own index on the international stock exchange.

#3 MPRI International (Military Professional Resources) Inc.

The country: USA

Number: 3,000 people

Specialization: MPRI International provides training programs for special forces personnel. Provides assistance to governments in the development of effective analysis of information, provides support in conducting research and assessing public opinion.

The loudest operations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1994. Preparation of the "Balkan Blitzkrieg".

"Learn to kill professionally." The company, created by 8 former officers of the US Armed Forces, has become a springboard for training special forces soldiers, providing a wide range of services for governments and armed forces in 40 countries around the world.

But the real profit of the American PMC comes from working in the thick of modern global conflicts. Throughout their history, MPRI International mercenaries have managed to take part in almost all armed conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East, South America and Africa.

In February 1994, MPRI thugs, on behalf of the US State Department, facilitated a treaty between Croats and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under pressure from mercenaries, the leaders of the warring parties were forced to sign an agreement providing for military opposition to the Serbs.

Subsequently, the PMC, consisting of retired American officers, was able to quickly prepare the top-level military of the armies of Croatia and Bosnia, as well as develop and implement an effective system of operational communications between NATO headquarters and troops, which ultimately affected the successful outcome of the so-called "Balkan blitzkrieg".

After the end of the active phase of the conflict, the company continued to work with the Kosovo Liberation Army, then worked with the Albanian armed groups in Macedonia in 2000-2001 and government forces in Liberia and Colombia.

And in 2001, at the initiative of the US Department of Defense, the thugs of MPRI International went to Georgia to reorganize the Georgian Armed Forces according to NATO standards.

#4 Aegis Defense Services

The country: United Kingdom

Number: over 20,000 people

Specialization: security activities in the aerospace, diplomatic and government sectors, as well as in the mining and oil and gas industries. The company also provides armed personnel services for the US government and UN missions.

The loudest operations: Iraq, 2005

Representative offices of this PMC are open in Kenya, Iraq, Nepal, Bahrain, Afghanistan and the United States, and its headquarters is located in Basel.

Officially, the company's employees are engaged in security activities, but in addition to protection, the company also provides the services of armed personnel. As often happens, the main customer is the US government. Not without scandals.

In 2005, a video appeared on the Internet in which Aegis Defense Services employees fired on unarmed Iraqis. And although the company's management did not admit their involvement in the incident, the Pentagon nevertheless temporarily suspended cooperation with PMCs.

Now the PMC is fulfilling another contract from the US authorities in the amount of $497 million, which provides for security in Iraq and protection of the US government in Kabul.

No. 5 PMC RSB-Group (Russian security systems)

The country: Russia

Number: the main backbone is about 500 people. Depending on the scale of the operation, the number of employees can increase to several thousand through the involvement of hired specialists.

Specialization: conducting security operations, both on land and at sea. The company produces professional competitive intelligence and provides military consulting services. The RSB-group also has its own training center, where training seminars are held for military specialists.

The loudest operations: Gulf of Aden, 2014.

RSB-Group is today the main Russian private military company. According to some reports, the number of employees is about 500 people, but in large operations, the staff of the organization can reach several thousand. It is considered the most qualified and efficient organization in the security sector of the Russian market.

Officially, the PMC operates in areas with an unstable political situation. Basically, RSB-Group conducts operations in the Middle East.

The creators are professional military personnel, GRU and FSB reserve officers who have gone through more than one hot spot and have the highest level of team interaction.

The headquarters of RSB-Group is located in Moscow. Representative offices are open in Sri Lanka, Turkey, Germany and Cyprus. In addition, there is an office in Senegal that oversees West Africa and the Middle East, in which this PMC specializes and where it conducts large-scale operations.

At the international level, RSB-Group positions itself as a Russian private military company. The range of services offered includes the protection of oil and gas facilities and airports, escort of convoys in conflict zones and cargo ships in pirate-prone maritime areas, as well as mine clearance, military training, intelligence and analysis.

According to Oleg Krinitsyn, director of RSB Group, PMC employees have been providing services abroad since 2011.

“RSB has security firms with gun licenses registered outside of Russia. And Russian employees of the RSB work abroad in accordance with the law and the requirements of the state where our security teams are located. We use semi-automatic weapons of caliber 7.62 mm, 5.56 mm, body armor, thermal imagers, night vision devices, satellite communications, if necessary, we can use UAVs, ”Krinitsyn said in an interview with Kommersant.

He also said that the first foreign operation of RSB-Group was the protection of ships in the Gulf of Aden from Somali pirates. It is noteworthy that the PMC built its own ship security tactics, thanks to which the pirates simply changed course, refused to fight, and even in rare cases welcomed heavily armed RSB troops on the ship they were guarding. Thus, PMCs manage to carry out security at sea almost bloodlessly.

№6 Erinys International

The country: United Kingdom

Number: unknown

Specialization: The activities of PMCs are focused on providing security services, in particular, in areas of Central Africa with very difficult natural conditions.

The loudest operations: Iraq, 2003

British military company registered offshore in the British Virgin Islands. It has a number of subsidiaries in the UK, the Republic of the Congo, Cyprus and South Africa.

"Main US Support in Iraq". Since 2003, Erinys has been providing comprehensive support to the US government in military operations in Iraq.

PMC employees are former employees of the British intelligence departments and special forces.

The largest operation of recent years is the deployment of 16,000 guards in 282 points throughout the country in Iraq. A huge contingent ensured the security of pipelines and other energy infrastructure nodes.

In 2004, she was at the center of a scandal when, in 2004, information appeared in the press about the abuse of prisoners. According to journalists, the mercenaries violated the human rights convention by using severe torture against a 16-year-old Iraqi during a military investigation.

The company currently works closely with oil and gas corporations, extractive industries, non-governmental organizations and public services. Also, the American and British governments, and even the UN, willingly use the services.

#7 Northbridge Services Group

The country: Dominican Republic

Number: Varies depending on tasks

Specialization: security consulting and training, operational and intelligence support, and strategic communications. PMCs also provide assistance in the field of maritime security and the protection of natural resources.

The loudest operations: Liberia, 2003

"Every whim for your money". The main customers of this PMC are multinational companies and conglomerates, which are generous to pay for various kinds of tasks to protect their own business in different parts of the world.

Northbridge Services Group is registered in the Dominican Republic. Offices are open in the US, UK and Ukraine.

The company "provides an efficient service designed for the needs of governments, multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations, the corporate sector and individuals."

Northbridge mercenaries assist law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime and unauthorized search for information, provide assistance in the field of maritime security and the protection of natural resources.

The volume of financial receipts in 2012 amounted to 50.5 million dollars

She gained worldwide fame in 2003 when she offered the UN Tribunal for $ 2 million to capture the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. But the proposal was rejected as illegal.

The PMC played an important role in resolving the armed conflict in this country. Northbridge Services Group took the side of the rebels, thereby ensuring the overthrow of the official government of the country and the further entry of UN peacekeepers into its territory.

No. 8 DynCorp

The country: USA

Number: about 14 thousand people.

Specialization: the widest range of security and protection services in the air, on land and on water. In addition, the company is a developer of security systems and a provider of solutions for military combat strategies.

The loudest operations: Afghanistan, 2002

PMC DynCorp appeared back in 1946. The corporation is headquartered in Virginia, but all operational management is carried out from an office in Texas. Over 65% of DynCorp's income comes from the US government.

The oldest PMC in the world provides services to the US military in several theaters of operations, including Bolivia, Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo and Kuwait. DynCorp provides physical protection services for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and trains most of the Iraqi and Afghan police forces.

According to some experts, the company is closely connected with the CIA and dubious transactions could be turned under its cover.

There are several major scandals in the history of the corporation.

Iraqi authorities accused the company and the US State Department of misappropriating $1.2 billion in law enforcement training.

In October 2007, a company employee killed a taxi driver in Baghdad, and in July 2010, DynCorp employees shot dead four Afghan civilians near the Kabul airport.

#9 ITT Corporation

The country: USA

Number: about 9,000 employees.

Specialization: high-tech engineering development and production of defense technologies.

The loudest operations: Latin America and South America 1964.

PMC appeared as one of the divisions of ITT Corporation. The organization itself began in the 1920s as an international telephone and telegraph company. After the division into areas, it became one of the main executors of orders from the US government in the defense industry.

ITT Corporation is considered one of the largest companies engaged in high-tech engineering development, as well as the production and implementation of defense technologies.

She became famous for her direct participation in the overthrow of the regimes of Latin America, in the Brazilian coup in 1964, when the government of the countries tried to nationalize American companies, as well as for financing the group that brought Pinochet to power in 1973.

In March 2007, ITT Corporation was fined $100 million by the US Department of Justice for sharing information about night vision and counter-laser technology with Singapore, China and the UK.

#10 Asgaard German Security Group

The country: Germany

Number: unknown

Specialization: operations planning and support in risk areas, security, consulting, training and advanced training, seminars.

The loudest operations: Somalia 2010.

One of the most famous German PMCs. Founded in 2007 by a former high-ranking German paratrooper named Thomas Kaltegartner. The number of employees remains unknown to this day. It has offices in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Chad, Croatia and the United Arab Emirates.

It is noteworthy that the German Foreign Ministry made an official statement that it does not control the activities of this PMC in any way and does not know anything about its activities in Somalia.

The PMC is known for signing one of the most resonant contracts with the Somali opposition leader Galadid Abdinur Ahmad Darman, who declared himself president of the republic back in 2003. In 2009, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed became interim president, and Galadid decided to strengthen his position with the help of German mercenaries.

The legality and official recognition of the activities of private military companies is a fairly popular topic today. This is especially true for Russia, where this phenomenon has only just begun to appear, in contrast to the West and Europe, whose PMCs have been operating for a long time. The effectiveness of such companies in hot spots has already been proven, the only question is whether they will be officially recognized by the state or not.

Sergey Goncharov, President of the Association of Veterans of the Alfa Anti-Terror Unit, said that the State Duma could speed up the decision on the adoption of a law on private military companies.

“To be frank, as far as I understand, such a law on private military companies has not yet been adopted in Russia. Although this topic has been raised many times, because our “main opponents” - the USA, Great Britain and France have private companies that are active around the globe. They do a pretty serious job that brings dividends to these countries,” Goncharov said.

At the moment, the issue of controlling the activities of PMCs is in a "stagnant" state. According to Sergei Goncharov, it should be addressed to the State Duma, which could introduce a relevant bill.

The popularity of private military companies, their increased participation in modern armed conflicts, many blame America. Say, it gave rise to a phenomenon that has become a worldwide phenomenon. The annual turnover of this business is in the billions of dollars.

It is generally accepted that the emergence of private military companies (PMCs) took place in the UK and the USA in the 80s of the last century. After the Cold War, the US military underwent restructuring and privatization. Private contractors and subcontractors have taken the place in them that was previously occupied by the state. Cold War professionals, unclaimed by the bureaucracy, created private companies, gathering ex-military personnel for security, training, intelligence, operational and covert missions.

The trend of recent years: PMCs employ not only former "fur seals" and other masters of "long-range and close combat", but also "white-collar workers" - hackers, programmers, analysts.

"The United States has opened a commercial Pandora's box," writes Sean McFate, a former US Army paratrooper, then an employee of the private military company Dyncorp International, and now a fellow at Washington National University, in The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What they Mean for World Order ( The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and Their Importance to the World Order, private warriors of all colors and shades have stepped out of the shadows and are engaged in warfare for profit. I will add: all over the world - from Latin America and Africa to Syria and Ukraine.

The comparison with the Middle Ages, with countless feudal wars, in which the main role was played not by hastily armed, frightened villagers, but by professional fighters, howling for whoever pays the most, looks spectacular, but America has its own point of reference. Armed private contractors have always been honored here.

From the very first day of its history, the American state has given weapons to its citizens. The People's Militia defended independence, the Second Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the right to keep weapons at home in order to protect oneself and family. But those who shot better than others could sell their services to the state. The pioneers of the Far West were protected not by politicians from Washington or even by sheriffs, but by hired rangers. Criminals were searched for and shot without any trial by "bounty hunters".

In the US, the state has always willingly delegated some of its functions to private contractors - including security and law enforcement. For example, since the 1980s, the number of private prisons has been growing here. Now 133,000 prisoners are serving sentences in them - 8.5 percent of the total.

Returning to the "man with a gun": in 1893, the White House began to use the Pinkerton detective agency and other private companies to fight the labor and trade union movement that swept all the major cities of the country. Armed employees of local branches of the Pinkerton agency (which still exists today) guarded the strikebreakers - those who went to work instead of the strikers. Then Congress decided that this was overkill and passed a law - the Anti-Pinkerton Act, which prohibits the state from hiring private companies to maintain security and law and order. In other words, to replace the police ... Perhaps the most famous - after the events in Iraq (more on that below) - the Blackwater company was engaged in helping to eliminate the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, but PMCs were not involved in pacifying racial unrest in Ferguson. Domestically, they are engaged in the training of pilots, infantrymen and sailors of the US Armed Forces, the protection of politicians and objects - no more, within the framework of existing laws and regulations. Their activities abroad are also limited, but as Kevin Lanigan, an expert on national security law, points out, in Iraq and Afghanistan, "book laws" and practice often didn't match.

Letter of the law

Do's and don'ts for US contractors

The activities of PMCs are regulated by hundreds of legislative acts, service instructions, circulars and memorandums. These are tens of thousands of pages of regulations.

The main thing for American firms is to comply with the laws of their state. For example, in California, where the headquarters of Andrews International and CACI International, which are among the "thirty" leading PMCs in the world, are located, the state bureau for security services and investigations issues licenses, registers companies, and adopts a set of disciplinary rules. State regulators operate in other states as well. At the federal level, the actions of armed contractors are spelled out in at least a dozen legislative acts. They are guaranteed protection in the courts, but emphasized a "supporting role" when working for the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies. At the same time, already at the level of prescriptions, the "federals" are prohibited from using PMCs in "inherently governmental activities" - primarily in military functions.

The international document “On the code of conduct for private military and security companies”, signed in 2008 in the Swiss city of Montreux by representatives of 17 countries (including the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada, China, Ukraine and Poland), imposes an obligation on governments control the activities of PMCs, bear responsibility for the crimes they have committed, prohibit them from participating in hostilities.

Reality, as usual, made its own adjustments. In 2006, the Federal Defense Act Supplement (DFARS) passed an amendment allowing private contractors to use lethal weapons "outside of self-defense" if required by contractual obligations.

From the very beginning, the war in Iraq did not go as Washington politicians and generals expected. Instead of a three-week operation - a protracted war. Three paths were drawn before the White House: to leave in disgrace, leaving the region in a state of chaos, to declare mandatory military conscription in America (as in the days of Vietnam), which threatened with a political catastrophe, or to rely on private contractors who are forbidden to participate in "direct" combat actions, but who can use weapons "for self-defense and protection of objects", and in addition, engage in military training for the local army and police and provide a full range of restoration work.

The total number of private American PMC contractors in Iraq exceeded 180 thousand, while the number of troops, even at the critical moment of this war, was no more than 168 thousand. In Afghanistan in 2008, the number of American contract soldiers was from 130 to 160 thousand people. In the US, they don't even know exactly how much.

The rapid growth in demand for PMCs is best illustrated by the example of Blackwater (now Academi). In 1997, the firm was founded by a former Navy SEAL, 27-year-old Eric Prince, and shooting instructor Al Clark. It owes its name - "Black Water" to peat bogs on the border of North Carolina and Virginia, where a site was purchased for the first military training ground. The company received its first major government contract for the training of 100,000 sailors immediately after the terrorist attack on the American destroyer Cole. If in 2001 the company received 735 thousand dollars from the American budget, then in 2005 the amount increased to 25 million, and a year later it reached 600 million dollars.

Continuous growth was not prevented by a grandiose scandal. On September 16, 2007, employees of the then Blackwater, who were guarding a diplomatic convoy of the State Department, initiated a shootout in the central square of Baghdad, which ended in the death of seventeen and wounding 27 Iraqis (among the victims were children). It seemed to the guards that a suicide with a bomb was waiting for them on the way, and they opened fire. The Iraqi government has demanded a trial of the perpetrators and expulsion of the company from the country.

Hearings were held in Congress. After this incident, legislators for the first time seriously engaged in the accounting of PMCs and were horrified by the published figures for spending "on training and reconstruction" of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Russian media were quick to announce that "the Blackwater criminals got away with it." In fairness, justice has caught up with them.

In April 2015, former security guard Nicholas Slatten was sentenced by an American court to life imprisonment, three of his colleagues received terms of up to 30 years. The defendants filed an appeal.

Now, after repeated “rebrandings” of Blackwater, as a result of the merger of several large PMCs under the auspices of the Constellis holding, the former firm of a fur seal and a shooting instructor has become the largest network of training centers for various branches of the military, it signs contracts around the world.

Modern peacekeeping operations cannot be imagined without the participation of private military companies, which, together with the regular contingent of national armies, are equal subjects of these missions. According to military experts, the role of such companies in world conflicts will increase over time, as evidenced by the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In these states, PMCs perform the functions of the police. In addition, their participation in operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, in the zones of Western Macedonia and Southern Serbia was very active.

Private military companies- these are not only small firms, but also large corporations that offer advice, as well as services for the implementation of combat missions in war conditions. They were first discussed during the Second World War. Over time, as a result of the geopolitical changes that occurred after the end of the Cold War, their role in the armed forces of many world states has only increased. At the moment, there are more than 3 thousand such companies in the world, operating in more than 60 countries around the world.

Private military companies have received especially active development since the early 90s of the twentieth century, turning into a profitable business. They are active in many African countries, such as Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In total, about 90 private companies operate on the continent, 80 of which are located in Angola, performing military tasks to protect Western oil companies. The government of this state not only does not prohibit their activities, but also requires them to ensure the safety of official authorities.

This only plays into the hands of PMCs, who can work legally and also maintain small private troops armed with aircraft and heavy military equipment. There are also a large number of companies that deal with the protection of personnel and property. They generally do not take part in hostilities and prefer to call themselves private security companies. At the same time, it becomes practically impossible to distinguish such functions from the performance of military tasks if their implementation takes place during armed conflicts.

The conduct of hostilities in the territories of Afghanistan and Iraq contributed to the growth in the number of private military companies that received direct orders from the governments of the United States of America, Great Britain and the World Health Organization, as well as UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR). In addition, contracts were offered to these companies by the new governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a large number of companies that operated in the territories of these states, in particular, those involved in transportation, oil production, energy and water supply.

Thus, any state, organization of international or regional level, various agencies and even individuals can conclude a contract with PMCs for the provision of services. Moreover, large private military companies can enter into contracts with smaller firms on the principle of subcontracting.

A characteristic feature of PMCs is the absence of problems with personnel, since the average salary for officers is about 2-3 thousand dollars, for pilots - about 7 thousand, and for instructors - about 2.5 thousand dollars. The amount of salary depends on the experience of the person, as well as on the region where it is necessary to operate. In addition, all employees receive insurance. According to official figures, the average annual income of such a company is from 25 to 40 million dollars.

Very often, such companies recruit veterans of the Foreign Legion, although, for example, in Iraq, certain difficulties arose due to the policy of the French government, despite the fact that the French company Groupe ENC made its way to this market thanks to foreign legionnaires.

Among the most successful and large companies of this specialization, the American MPRI should be singled out., which has been acting together with others for many years, fulfilling the instructions not only of its governments, but also of the UN. And since PMC employees are mostly professionals who are able to solve the combat operational tasks of those who pay, Washington takes a number of specific diplomatic steps to protect them, even if in the course of these tasks they violate international agreements.

The activities of PMCs are controlled by Western intelligence agencies, primarily British and American. Moreover, since these companies cannot independently resist the enemy, which is superior in terms of weapons, they enlist the support of military special units in advance. Such cooperation is also possible because the firms employ veterans of these military units, as well as provide a field for activities for current members of the special forces.

This is a mutually beneficial cooperation, since the company receives highly qualified specialists, and those, in turn, receive decent wages for their work. So, in the army, a soldier receives from 1 to 4 thousand dollars a month, while for one day of work in a PMC he can earn from 250 to 1 thousand dollars.

Companies often offer their assistance in the use of high technologies, since the army cannot afford to adequately train specialists in this industry, just as it cannot provide proper career growth. Sometimes employees of companies compensate for the lack of a particular unit.

According to experts, the use of such PMCs can be very useful to the United Nations and other international organizations, since their deployment on the national territory of any of the states causes much less political tension than regular troops.

To date, PMCs provide their services in the recruitment of personnel of the contingent of American troops, the protection of the Baghdad airport, the Iraqi energy system, oil fields, American embassies and the President of Afghanistan, escorting UN convoys in Afghanistan and Iraq, training the Iraqi army, monitoring prisons, demining , fire protection, logistics, aerial reconnaissance and protection of ships from pirates.

The largest private military companies are the already mentioned MPRI, Cellogg, Brown and Root, Blackwater, Cube Apple and Keyshnl International, AirScan, DynCorp and the British-American Halo Trust.

The MPRI company, which was founded in 1987, is engaged in the selection of weapons and their purchases, provides advice on reforming the armed forces, develops doctrines, and conducts military exercises. It also provides support to the operations of the rapid reaction forces. The company cooperates with the US government, the CIA and the military. This company has at its disposal the largest database of military industry specialists in America.

Its employees more than once took part in local conflicts, for example, they provided their services to the Colombian government, trained the Croatian army, assisted Albanian militants in Macedonia and the authorities of Liberia. So, in 1995, the Croatian army successfully carried out Operation Storm to destroy Serbian separatists, which was planned and carried out by PMC employees.

At this stage of time, this company actively supports America's policy in Africa, where it takes part in the development of programs to create rapid reaction forces for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations in Africa. Forces of the same company in Nigeria carried out a military reform. On the territory of Georgia, the PMC is engaged in the selection and purchase of weapons, reforming the armed forces, training soldiers and officers, and also participating in the development of military doctrine, manuals and programs.

Blackwater, which in February 2009 was named XE Services, was founded by former American special forces soldier E. Prince. This is a small but well-armed private army, which includes about 21 thousand people. In 2003, employees of this company appeared in Iraq in order to ensure the safety of P. Bremer, the head of the civil administration. However, they did not act in the best way, which led to a significant undermining of their reputation. The success of the company can be judged by the amount of annual income. If in 2001 the amount was no more than a million dollars, then in 2007 it exceeded a billion dollars.

Cube Apple and Cash International actively cooperates with the Georgian government, advising the military department, developing plans for the reform of the Georgian army and the military doctrine of the state.

AirScan- Another private military company, headed by General Joe Stringham. The scope of the main tasks includes the protection of oil installations in Angola, for which the company sends former military personnel there.

"DynCorp" company is engaged in the provision of services for the protection of facilities, including American embassies in a number of states, maintenance of US military facilities abroad.

The main task British-American PMC "Halo Trust" is limited to providing support for the clearance of mines and unexploded ordnance. It was founded in 1988 and financed by the governments of the USA, Great Britain, Canada and Germany. The company has close ties with British and American intelligence agencies. Its branches are located in the territories of Afghanistan, Angola, Vietnam, Cambodia, Georgia, Sudan, Nicaragua, Mozambique.

In the late 90s, this company also had a representative office in Chechnya, where it trained saboteurs-bombers from among the militants. In Georgia, the company trains the military in combat engineering, sabotage, and reconnaissance.

Private military company "Kellogg, Brown and Root" on behalf of the Pentagon, it provides support to US and NATO troops, supplies the US army in Iraq, and restores the oil complex.

The US Department of Defense Intelligence Service realized as early as 1997 that in the coming decades, private military companies would become the main tool for implementing US government policies abroad. Therefore, the military department began to actively involve various commercial structures in the performance of military tasks. For 10 years, the military department has concluded more than 3 thousand contracts with civilian firms. Thus, more than half of the provision of military aviation training and maintenance of equipment and missile defense systems is carried out by private companies.

Companies that were engaged in providing services to the government in the military sphere were called “privatized military firms”, “private military companies”, but the term “military contractors” is considered to be the most established in the military literature, the Russian equivalent of which is the term “contractors”.

All contractor companies are divided into several groups depending on the scope of services: supplier firms, providing firms and consulting firms. Most of them have close relationships with large holdings and corporations, as well as with the military department. This contributes not only to the rapid conclusion of contracts, but also guarantees solid state support.

A common feature of all military contractors is the fact that they all started by providing services to the ministries of defense of their states, and only then entered the international market. According to rough estimates, today it is estimated at 150 billion dollars against 100 billion in 2001. The increase in the number and cost of contracts is primarily due to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In recent years, the use of the services of private military companies has expanded significantly. Particular attention should be paid to military intelligence. If earlier it was considered especially secret and protected, today the situation has changed radically. The appearance of drones in service with the army forced the government to turn to contractors for help. PMCs were also involved in collecting information about the political situation inside Iraq and the composition of the resistance forces, their leaders and supplies.
The military department was also forced to resort to the help of private companies, since it did not have a sufficient number of specialists who could qualitatively use the worldwide global network to collect information about terrorist organizations.

However, despite the fact that the involvement of private military companies allowed the government to solve a number of problems, it could not save it from the appearance of others. This is, first of all, the almost complete lack of accountability, the impossibility of monitoring and auditing their activities. In addition, it is also hushed up about how much the government managed to save by attracting military contractors to cooperate.

And if at the beginning of the 1990s the amount of 6 billion a year was called, then according to the calculations of the control and financial department, this amount is overstated by 75 percent. Despite the fact that this problem has not yet been solved, at the moment it does not matter so much, since private military companies are able to solve a huge number of various military tasks in war and conflict zones.

It becomes quite clear that the process of privatization of military functions in Western states is becoming irreversible, since the existence of wars and conflicts will provoke a demand for military services, especially since there is a tendency to reduce the armed forces in the world. The military-industrial complex was forced to adapt to new conditions.
Thus, we can say with confidence that in the near future the privatization of military affairs will acquire a sustainable character in most Western states. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that even today almost no world army can carry out a military operation without the involvement of private structures.

PMCs, or private military companies, are distributed mainly abroad. In Russia, they are illegal, but the prototype of Russian PMCs - the Wagner group - was tested in Syria. On March 22, RBC, together with the Conflict Intelligence Team, listed the soldiers who died in Syria from a private company.

The principles of work of PMCs are fixed in the Montreux Document adopted in the fall of 2008. According to the document, people who are not in the public service can provide services for the armed protection of facilities, maintenance of combat complexes, training of military personnel, and so on. The most famous PMCs in the world are in the RBC photo gallery.

Academi (until 2010 Xe Services, and before that known as Blackwater). USA

Founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince. In 2002, employees of the Blackwater division participated in military operations in Afghanistan, in 2003 - in Iraq. In Iraq, after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the company also trained members of the Iraqi military and police.

Among the activities of the company are the protection of oil fields and pipelines in Iraq, the training of employees of the Armed, Naval Forces and Security Services, American based in North Carolina and foreign (Iraq, Afghanistan, Greece, Azerbaijan), US diplomatic representatives in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, Israel, air and sea transport operations for the US Department of Defense. The company was involved in the aftermath of floods and hurricanes in 2011.

Triple Canopy. USA

Photo: Triple Canop Facebook account

Founded in 2003 by US Army Special Forces veterans Tom Kaytis and Matt Mann. The company has signed a contract to protect, among other things, the top officials of the coalition leadership in the war zone in Iraq. In addition, she received a contract with the US State Department to protect American embassies in hot spots around the world. In particular, the company provides security for the US Embassy in Afghanistan, as well as security for the President of Afghanistan.

In 2010, the company took part in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Merged with Academi in 2014.

Aegis Defense Services. United Kingdom

Photo: Aegis Defense Services Limited Facebook account

Founded by former officer of the Scots Guards, veteran of the Falklands War, Tim Spicer. The company has offices in Afghanistan, UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Somalia and Mozambique.

The company took part in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in Iraq it operated under a three-year contract with the US Department of Defense ($293 million), ensuring the security of the movement of US troops, logistics and interaction between military units.

L-3 MPRI. USA

Founded in 1987 by eight former senior generals from the US Department of Defense. They were later joined by former Army Chief of Staff Carl Vuono and former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Interservice Command William Kernan.

The company began by training American National Guard personnel and reservists. Since the mid-1990s, MPRI has trained the personnel of the Armed Forces of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Kuwait, and South Africa.

In 1990, the company received a five-year contract from the US State Department for the protection of ships with medicines and food sent to the former Soviet republics. In 1998, the company guarded oil reserves in Equatorial Guinea. In 1999, the company entered into a contract with the Colombian Ministry of Defense to support the Colombian military in the fight against drug lords.

At least 500 employees of the company were present in Iraq in 2006-2010.

Custer Battles. USA

Founded in 2001 by former Ranger and military consultant Scott Custer and former CIA officer Michael Battles. The company is engaged in ensuring the security of humanitarian organizations in hot spots around the world. In 2002, she began working in Kabul, providing security for various non-governmental organizations and departments, in particular the Ministry of Transport of Afghanistan.

In 2003, she was responsible for the security of Baghdad International Airport. The company entered into a one-year contract for the protection of members of the Iraqi civil administration.

In the US, the company is engaged in ensuring the security of critical infrastructure facilities (Critical infrastructure protection) - power plants, airports, telecommunications facilities, hospitals, etc.

In modern society, the value of human life is constantly growing. This trend is especially noticeable in the countries of the First World. Ordinary Americans and Europeans do not want to fight anymore. Moreover, voters in Western countries perceive reports of the death of their own soldiers extremely negatively, especially since wars are fought, as a rule, in some distant, incomprehensible countries, thousands of kilometers from their home.

But you have to fight. Our world is not becoming safer, and no one thought to cancel the national interests of states. That's why ordinary guys from Iowa and Texas have to put on military uniforms and go somewhere far away to defend democratic values ​​... In a word, everything is like in the good old days - take up the White Man's burden. Many of them return home covered in the Stars and Stripes. And politicians have to explain to the people why they should sacrifice their sons for obscure geopolitical games... And it becomes more and more difficult to do this every year.

A way out of this situation was found in the middle of the last century, when British Colonel David Sterling created the first private military company - Watchguard International. The idea turned out to be brilliant - according to the British The Economist, in 2012 the volume of the market for services provided by PMCs already amounted to $ 100 billion. Sometimes even larger numbers are called.

In recent years, mercenaries have been gradually replacing the regular army from the battlefield. And this can already be safely called a trend. Another unconditional trend was the appearance of a huge number of Russian surnames in the lists of private military companies ...

It would not be an exaggeration to say that PMCs have become a modern reincarnation of the phenomenon as old as the world - mercenarism, which probably arose even at the time of the emergence of the first states. The mercenary, as a rule, only cares about the "cash", he does not care about the political, ideological or national aspects of the war in which he is a participant. Often, "wild geese" are not at all citizens of the country on whose territory hostilities are taking place, although options are possible here.

There is another important point. Private military companies are a true symbol of the "hybridization" of modern warfare. They not only enable the state to hide combat losses from its own people, but also allow it, if necessary, to simply “freeze” and hide its participation in a particular conflict. "Ihtamnet", in short ...

What is a PMC and what are they for?

A private military company is a commercial organization that offers various military services to customers for a fee, which may include:

• protection and protection of objects or territories;
• providing logistics in the zones of military conflicts;
• intelligence gathering;
• military training;
• planning of military operations.

But in fact, the list of works to which PMCs are involved is much wider.

For example, about ten years ago, "private traders" were actively involved in the fight against piracy. Then it became a real "headache" for trading companies and shipowners. It was much more profitable for them to hire armed guards than to pay a ransom for the ship and crew to modern filibusters. By the way, PMCs are also usually involved in the release of hostages from pirate captivity and paying a ransom.

Mine clearance services have become another area of ​​activity for military companies in recent years. Also, PMC specialists are often engaged in the repair and maintenance of military equipment, including complex computer systems, they guard embassies and prisons, recruit recruits, and even provide military translator services. In recent years, mercenaries have increasingly been directly involved in combat operations.

Western states are increasingly outsourcing warfare. For example, in peacekeeping operations in recent years, private military companies are considered absolutely equal legal entities along with regular army units. It should be understood that modern PMCs bear little resemblance to a bunch of dashing mercenaries of the 70-80s, the times of Angola and Mozambique. Today, the richest Western corporations are investing in this profitable business, PMCs are closely connected with the establishment, often they are led by former high-ranking officials or retired generals.

Western private military companies are structures tightly controlled by the state that work in the interests of this very state. This is the main difference between modern PMCs and medieval mercenary units. Theoretically, all responsibility for the actions of a particular PMC (including for any offenses) lies with the state-employer of this company. However, as a rule, such responsibility is very vague, and it is much easier to get away from it than from crimes committed by "regulars".

Private military companies appeared in Russia several decades later than in the West. Despite this, this business is also actively developing in our country, and there are serious prerequisites for this: the presence of a huge number of people with military experience and the general poverty of the population. Therefore, Russian "soldiers of fortune" are cheap, they are very attractive in the world market in terms of "price / quality" ratio. You can also add that the domestic approach to the use of PMCs is significantly different from the Western one, but more on this will be discussed below.

Strengths and weaknesses of modern "soldiers of fortune"

Why do states increasingly give preference to private military companies, what are their advantages over the good old army? There are really a lot of “buns” here, and they are tastier than one another.

1. As mentioned above, the use of PMCs does not cause the discontent among the population, which inevitably generates the sending of regular troops to war. Well, they say, mercenaries, what to take from them, they themselves go for a long ruble;
2. Often the losses of military companies are not taken into account at all in official reports. The Americans, for example, have long had a rigid and transparent system for accounting for the losses of the armed forces. The data is posted on a special website, where combat and non-combat losses are indicated, the information is constantly updated. But you will never find mercenaries in these lists;
3. Private military companies are easy-going, capable of rapid deployment, they have a minimum of bureaucracy;
4. As a rule, PMCs cost the state less than a regular army. For small missions, it is much more profitable to hire “private traders” than to mobilize, deploy garrisons and send troops;
5. High professionalism. Usually, when recruiting personnel in PMCs, preference is given to people who have completed military service and have combat experience. Private military companies often hire specialists who have given many years of military service, so that in terms of professionalism, PMCs often even surpass regular troops.

However, private military companies also have significant drawbacks:

1. Mercenaries have absolutely no ideological or ideological motivation, they are only interested in money. Therefore, they are often accused of cruel treatment of civilians, murders and looting;
2. The actions of PMCs are limited by the terms of the contract, which, of course, cannot provide for all options for the development of the situation. This somewhat reduces the flexibility of using PMCs in the conflict region;
3. The weak point is the coordination of the actions of PMCs and the regular army, since these structures often do not have a single control center.

The history of the emergence of private military companies

The history of mercenarism is lost in the dark depths of centuries. The first European mercenaries can be called the Vikings, who were happy to be employed in the personal guard of the Byzantine emperors. Then there were the Genoese crossbowmen, the Swiss, the German landsknechts and the famous Italian condottieri, who offered their sword to anyone who was able to give them a hard coin. So modern "wild geese" have someone to take an example from ...

But those are things of bygone days, but if we talk about modern times, then in the history of Western mercenarism, several main stages can be distinguished:

• 1940s–1970s In the first decades after the end of the world war, the number of people willing to fight for money increased many times over. There is nothing surprising in this - hundreds of thousands of Europeans and Americans had real combat experience, and some of them simply could not or did not want to find themselves in a new peaceful life. A buyer was quickly found for this "goods" - the collapse of the colonial system caused dozens of military conflicts around the world. These "new landsknechts" were very useful in them. The processes described above were quite large-scale, but not very organized. The answer to them was the official ban on mercenarism at the UN level, adopted in 1949. However, a number of countries - including the United States - have not ratified this document. Some of the mercenaries went into security structures, which sometimes understood the word "guard" in a very specific way;
• 1980–1990s. This is the time of the end of the Cold War, the redrawing of the political map of the world and significant cuts in military budgets. Hundreds of thousands of servicemen were laid off, both in the West and in the territory of the former Soviet Union. For those of them who did not want to break with the army, service in PMCs was almost the only way out. Around the same time, the American military leadership drew attention to private military companies. In the first Iraqi campaign, mercenaries already accounted for 1% of the total number of US Army personnel in the region. And that was just the beginning... On the whole, the 1990s can be called the “beginning of the heyday” of private military companies;
• 2001 - present. For this period, the starting point was 09/11/2001 - the day when terrorists attacked objects in the United States. In retaliation, Bush Jr. started two wars at once - in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the mercenaries took an active part in them, performing various tasks. A golden rain of new orders literally poured on the owners of PMCs. During these years, the number of private military companies increased rapidly, while their overall role in military conflicts and peacekeeping missions grew. Large transnational corporations paid the closest attention to PMCs, especially those that did business in the troubled regions of the planet. Currently, there are about 450 officially registered PMCs in the world.

It is believed that the first military company - in the modern sense of the term - was founded in 1967 by British Colonel David Sterling. It was called Watchguard International and was mainly engaged in the training of army units in the Middle East. In 1974 Vinnell Corp. - the private army of Northrop Grumman Corporation - received a half-billion dollar contract from the US government to train the army of Saudi Arabia and protect the oil fields located on the territory of this country.

Mercenaries from European PMCs actively participated in the Civil War in Angola. Some of them were captured and brought before the Angolan court, thanks to which the facts of the participation of mercenaries in this conflict became public.

In the mid-70s, a new kind of "soldiers of fortune" appeared - the so-called white-collar mercenaries. These were highly qualified military or technical specialists from Western countries who worked for pay in third world countries, helping to develop new military equipment, repairing it, and planning military operations.

In 1979, another UN resolution was adopted regarding the prohibition of mercenarism, but this did not affect the overall situation.

After the end of the Cold War, PMCs participated in several armed conflicts in Africa, American "private traders" were engaged in the preparation of the Croatian army during the Yugoslav wars, the Israelis trained the Georgian military.

In 2008, the Somali government hired the French military company Secopex to fight piracy and ensure safe navigation in the Gulf of Aden.

In 2011, employees of Western PMCs participated in the civil war in Libya.

Private military companies in Russia

Officially, there are no PMCs in Russia at all, they are prohibited by law, and for participation in a military conflict, a mercenary can receive from 3 to 7 years of general regime (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). But what about in our country? If something is impossible, but you really want it, then you can ...

Russia, by the way, also has a rather deep tradition of mercenarism. The Cossacks were for a long time essentially private armies, albeit in public service. They absolutely did not disdain to sell their military skills. So, for example, the merchants Stroganovs hired Yermak and his team to conquer new lands in Siberia. Zaporizhzhya Cossacks participated in the Thirty Years' War as mercenaries, served with the Persian Khan.

If we talk about modern times, then mercenarism on an “industrial” scale began in our country already in the 90s. At that time, tens of thousands of military specialists were laid off or left the service themselves due to miserable wages and general disorder. But many of them had real combat experience.

Currently in Russia there are a number of companies that provide customers with various services of a very specific nature. As a rule, veterans of special services or retired army officers are in the leadership of such organizations.

The most famous domestic companies providing military services are: Tiger Top-Rent Security, E.N.O.T. CORP, Moran Security Group, Wagner PMC, Cossacks, MAP PMC. Russian PMCs also guard facilities, escort cargo, train law enforcement officers, and fight against pirates. However, our private armies also have a certain specificity that distinguishes them from Western PMCs.

PMC Wagner or soldiers of failure

The most famous Russian private military company is without a doubt the Wagner PMC. In recent years, this name has appeared with enviable regularity on the pages of Russian and foreign publications. Formally, this organization does not exist at all; you will not find it either in the lists of Russian law enforcement agencies or in the register of legal entities. Despite this, the Wagner PMC is armed with armored vehicles, and its fighters are trained at one of the GRU bases in the Rostov region. This company has already managed to light up in two military conflicts of varying degrees of hybridity, which the Russian Federation is currently waging - in the Donbass and in Syria.

Any private military companies, although they are considered commercial and independent organizations, are tightly controlled by the state. It could not be otherwise, because the scope of their activities is specific and extremely delicate, it is directly related to the country's international policy. Therefore, the state cannot allow any initiative in this field. For example, there is no doubt that American PMCs coordinate their activities with the State Department and the US intelligence community. Moreover, as a rule, such organizations are “ruled” by retirees from special forces and intelligence. And such people go into the category of "former" only after getting into a better world. Everything is very simple: veterans continue to promote the interests of the state, and it allows them to earn money on this ...

All of the above is doubly true for Russia. It is ridiculous even to hear about some private independent Russian armies or vacationers who, at their own peril and risk, go to war with their neighbors. Yeah, right now ... This is so that our state, which, from Tsar Peas, treats any attempts of citizens to self-organize with maniacal distrust, will suddenly allow beaten men with combat experience to create some kind of group. Yes, and arm yourself besides.

PMC Wagner first "lit up" in the conflict in the Donbass in 2014, then the journalists found that many of its members took an active part in the events of the so-called Crimean spring. And then there was Syria...

The Wagner PMC got its name in honor of the military call sign of its commander, Dmitry Utkin, a former Grushnik and a big fan of the symbols of the Third Reich. The base of the Molkino Ministry of Defense, which is located in the Krasnodar Territory, is used as the main location of this PMC. There are many veterans of law enforcement agencies in this unit - former military or special forces. PMC Wagner has heavy weapons and armored vehicles at its disposal, and mercenaries are delivered to Syria by Russian military transport aircraft or ships of the Navy. The official Kremlin denies not only the use of the Wagnerites in its own interests, but even the very existence of this PMC, which, however, does not prevent it from awarding the fighters of the unit with state orders and medals. Often posthumous...

PMC Wagner is associated with the figure of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman and restaurateur, a native of St. Petersburg, who is called Putin's personal chef. In addition, Prigozhin is considered the owner of the famous "troll factory" in Olgino.

On February 7, 2018, the combined assault group, consisting of Wagner PMC fighters, came under a massive attack by American forces and was almost completely destroyed. This happened near Hasham (Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor). PMC fighters tried to seize the Conoco gas processing plant, according to various estimates, their number was 600-800 people. The attackers had at their disposal tanks, light armored vehicles, artillery, including mortars and MLRS. The area where the plant is located belongs to the Kurdish zone of responsibility, and the attackers, of course, knew about it. And the United States is behind the Kurds in Syria. The Americans spotted the grouping at the stage of its concentration and immediately turned to their Russian colleagues with a reasonable question, what kind of people on the tanks and what do they need. The Russian command replied that there were no our servicemen in this area, and in general they did not know anything. On the evening of February 7, the Wagnerites approached the Kurdish positions, over which the American flag fluttered, and began shelling them with artillery. In response, the Americans launched a powerful missile and bomb attack on the mercenaries. Data on losses vary, but the most plausible figure is 250-300 people killed.

It is absolutely incomprehensible what the developers of this operation hoped for in general: maybe that the Americans would not shoot at the Russians and would just allow them to “squeeze out” a strategically important object?

Official Moscow did not react at all to this incident. Moreover, everything was done to hush him up, and in the end, the Foreign Ministry, through the mouth of the incomparable Zakharova, announced that about ten Russian citizens died in the incident, which we naturally did not send there.

This case clearly shows why the current Russian government needs structures like the Wagner group. First of all, it is an instrument of hybrid warfare, which makes it possible to relieve the state of responsibility for certain actions of a military nature.

This Russian PMCs differ from similar companies in the West. American or European mercenaries are also involved in various semi-legal operations, but this is the exception rather than the rule. PMCs in the West are ordinary firms that keep accounting records, pay taxes, and officially hire people. In Russia, this area of ​​activity is generally beyond the bounds of the law, and anyone who is involved in it can always be imprisoned.

The fighters of Western military companies are not used for frontal attacks or assaults on cities, they are too expensive. The vast majority of them do not participate in hostilities at all, so the definition of "mercenaries" in relation to them is rather a journalistic cliche, legally they are not.

But in PMC Wagner, judging by the information leaked to the press, everything is just the opposite. Both in Syria and in the Donbass, the Wagnerites often went in the first wave of attackers, therefore they suffered severe losses. The Americans for such purposes in the Middle East are trying to use the Kurds and Iraqis, in extreme cases, their regular units. In an interview, one of the Wagner fighters joked sadly that they only lacked bayonets for Kalashnikov assault rifles.

It cannot be said that all Russian PMCs are similar to the Wagnerites. In the same Iraq, PMC Lukoil-A, a division of the Russian oil giant, has long been operating. This company is engaged in the protection of wells, pipelines, escort of convoys - that is, the work is typical for any Western PMC.

Despite the heavy losses, the number of those wishing to try their luck under the leadership of Utkin does not decrease. The reason is simple - money. The mercenary receives 200-250 thousand rubles a month, which is simply fabulous money for the Russian outback.

In recent months, information has appeared in various sources about the start of Wagner PMC operations in Sudan and the Central African Republic. There is a lot of uranium, gold, and diamonds in the Central African Republic. They say that Prigozhin has already laid eyes on these riches, and also signed an agreement to mine gold in Sudan. It is likely that these business assets will have to be paid for with the blood of Russian "soldiers of fortune".

What is the future of mercenaries

If we talk about global trends, then in the coming years the number of private military companies will definitely only grow - the “outsourcing war” is too profitable. Already today, the number of PMC employees in Afghanistan and Iraq exceeds the number of American troops in these countries. Moreover, the Pentagon itself cannot even name the exact number of mercenaries.

In Russia, after the February defeat of the Wagnerites, talk began again about giving the legal status of PMCs. Moreover, they are conducted at the level of deputies of the State Duma. The idea is, of course, sound. Private military companies are a multibillion-dollar international business, and our prospects for it seem very promising. If PMCs were legal, then their employees would receive an official legal status, have insurance in case of injury or death. Well, the state could count on an additional bonus in the form of taxes.

However, the main question is whether the current Russian leadership wants to legalize the "Ihtamnets" or whether it needs them in their current, semi-legal status.