Russian Mercenaries in Libya are not Working for the Russian Government says Pinocchio Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked on Saturday whether mercenaries known as the Wagner Group, were fighting in Libya, said that if there are Russians in Libya, they are not representing the Russian state, nor are they paid by the state.

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Russia's Most Syrian Adventure Mini Update

As Syrian forces push their advantage against the Islamic State, it is increasingly clear that there are Russians on the ground with them. Some are Spetsnaz special forces, there for recon and forward air control, but others are mercenaries, working for a shadowy outfit in St. Petersburg. Increasingly, the Kremlin is waking up to the potential advantages of outsourcing combat missions to private contractors — but doing so in a very Russian way, in which “private” is still a euphemism for “deniable,” and where official intelligence agencies are still in control.

Much of the confusion about the scale and nature of Russia’s direct commitment on the ground probably reflects the presence of both state and private forces, with each having their own deniable components. Russian contractors appear to be operating T-90 tanks in combat and similar heavy equipment, and were at the fore of the recent drive to take Palmyra.

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The Next Set of Russia's Little Green Men may be Outsourced

Yesterday, Just Russia Duma deputies tabled a draft bill that would allow private firms to create under license from the FSB their own military units, something that some Russian corporations have already done and that others appear to want to do and that could create new possibilities for deception and denial for Moscow.

According to the measure, such private firms could “provide military and guard services to the state, other companies or individual citizens, including foreign ones,” and assist Moscow in “the alternative resolution of military conflicts beyond the borders of the Russian Federation” (slon.ru/fast/russia/v-rossii-poyavyatsya-chastnye-voennye-kompanii-1174938.xhtml).

Although this bill was proposed by a nominally opposition party, the idea of creating such units enjoys support from within the pro-government United Russia Party. Last summer, Frants Klintsevich, a United Russia deputy who chairs the Duma defense committee, said he was working with the defense ministry on a similar measure.

Such privatization or outsourcing of military functions is already a major business around the world. According to the authors of the new bill, 110 countries already have some form of private militaries. Their activities a 350 billion US dollar business in which Russian firms would then have a chance to participate, backers of the plan say.

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