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History, Reference, Research, and GrogTalk => Organizations and Equipment => Topic started by: bayonetbrant on August 02, 2018, 09:44:33 AM

Title: Consolidated Russian PMC's around the world Thread
Post by: bayonetbrant on August 02, 2018, 09:44:33 AM
There will probably be some overlap with any Syria / Ukraine threads, but I thought we could use one thread for sharing articles and comments on Russian PMCs around the globe, especially since under Russian law, they don't exist :)


https://www.polygraph.info/a/has-russia-been-open-about-its-involvement-in-the-central-african-republic-/29405622.html

QuoteOn July 31, three Russian journalists, Orkhan Jemal, Kirill Radchenko, and Alexander Rastorguev, were killed in the Central African Republican (CAR) when their vehicle was ambushed by unknown assailants near the town of Sibut. Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky later confirmed that the three journalists had been working for one of his projects, the Center for Investigation, on a probe into the activities of a so-called "private military company" called Wagner or the Wagner Group. That company has previously been involved in the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

On August 1, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted a statement on Facebook in which she dismissed talk about a "PMC" (private military company) and claimed that her ministry had been completely open about Russian government involvement in the CAR. She linked to a Foreign Ministry statement that mentioned Russian military and civilian cooperation with the country's government. However, neither Zakharova nor the statement she provided mentions anything about Wagner or private military companies. In fact, private military companies are still not legal under Russian law, so the confirmed involvement of Wagner in the CAR raises many questions.

the "confirmed involvement"
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/russia-revisits-old-cold-war-battleground

Quote
Moscow looms large in sub-Saharan Africa's Cold War history. Across the continent, the Soviet Union competed with the United States and its Western allies for influence in a series of long-running proxy battles. Russia's interest in sub-Saharan Africa waned, however, after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The region may have lost much of its geopolitical significance in the intervening time, but as the Kremlin asserts its influence in more and more conflicts abroad, sub-Saharan Africa presents Russia another opportunity to extend its global reach — should it so desire.

A Return to the Red Sea
On Jan. 5, reports emerged that the Wagner Group, a private military company with close connections to the Kremlin that has been active in Syria, had sent an unknown number of employees to Sudan. The group's deployment is unsurprising considering the decades of close ties between Khartoum and Moscow and in light of a visit by Sudanese President Omar al Bashir to the Kremlin in November. During the trip, al Bashir invited his hosts to construct a military base on the Red Sea, noting that Russian assistance was necessary to counteract U.S. interference in the area. Sudan's request followed similar moves by nearby Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia to persuade foreign powers to construct bases on their soil in exchange for much-needed money and a boost to their global stature.