THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE AND PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES

Sat, 30 May 2015 17:08:25 +0000

Private military companies (PMCs) appeared in Russia and Ukraine long before the beginning of the military-political crisis of 2013-2014. The interest in these structures appeared and evolved during this crisis, and quite often, editors of different origins gave a largely not objective assessment of those PMCs. Such "catching-up" approach to this problem proved to be highly inefficient, and many editors did not understand the scale and character of a phenomenon like the emergence of private military companies.

PMCs inevitably take part in the military-political processes happening in Ukraine, as such companies actively participated in the socio-economic and political life of the countries of the CIS over the last years. The huge British concern G4S has a large number of representations in Kiev and Moscow since around 20 years, engaged in the recruitment of employees and intelligence activity in the interest of neither pro-Ukrainian nor pro-Russian customers. In Kiev the office of G4S was opened in 1992[1], and already at that time was one of the largest private military companies in the world. There are also representative offices of other private military companies from Great Britain and USA in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and for several years no one has even hinted about the permissibility of this. Such large and influential PMCs as "Frontier Horizons", "Global Protection Agency, Ltd.", "IFS2I Security Consulting LLC" or "DSEC Security Consulting Ltd" have official offices in Russia and Ukraine. All those companies are capable of influencing decision in the international policy area. Not to mention many other companies and firms that have been founded in the CIS as subsidiary companies, seemingly unrelated to the parent companies. Sometimes, simple recruiting points for very large private military firms were registered as recruitment centers for sailors, etc.

Why there were no earlier "shocking" news about PMCs?

Domestic and Post-Soviet social scientists literally "missed" the topic of PMCs about as much as they missed the problem of Ukrainian nationalism and other forms of right-wing ideology in the post-Soviet space. There are many reasons for that. Among the key ones, we can distinguish the ongoing economic and political problems that brought down the level of education since the end of 1970-1980’s. As well as the media policy over the last 20 years, imposing secondary and unimportant topics not only to the layman, but also to the academic public.

In order to understand the problem of PMCs in the context of the military-political crisis, it is necessary to understand the important determinants of the modern capitalist system. First of all, it is necessary to consider the factor of the internationalization of the capital or its globalization. Secondly, it is extremely important to realize the crisis in system of the national state itself. How have these things influenced the military crisis in Ukraine, shall be shown in concrete examples.

We will also try to trace the activity of PMCs in the territory of Ukraine in the historical retrospective as far as possible. In the 90’s, in Ukraine as well as in other fragments of the former USSR, PSCs – private security companies developed very fast. They formed the backbone of the power if most influential people, including criminals as well as the former state and party nomenclature elite. Private security eventually won over less organized and economically weaker forces of the simple bandit world. The victory was on the side controlled by higher oligarchy and bureaucrats from private security companies, which after a few years put an end to that "lawlessness". Once Leo Tolstoy successfully explained the relation between players of the predatory world: “The brigands rob mostly the rich, the government is fleecing mostly the poor, the rich men, helping them in their crimes, patronize. The robbers doing their job, risking their lives, the governments risking almost nothing. The robbers generally do not force people into their gang - the governments recruit soldiers mostly violently. The robbers divide prey for the most part equally, while governments distribute prey unevenly: the more ones participates in organized deception, the more ones receives remuneration. The robbers do not deliberately corrupt people — the governments for achievement of their purposes corrupt whole generations of children and adults with false religious and patriotic doctrines. Importantly, even the most cruel robbers, like Stenka Razin, or Cartouche — cannot be compared in cruelty, ruthlessness and refinement in tortures, not only with villains-sovereigns well-known for their cruelty like Ivan the Terrible, Louis XI, or Elizabeth, but even with the present constitutional and liberal governments with their executions, solitary confinement prisons, disciplinary battalions, exiles, suppressions of revolts and beatings during wars".

PMCs in their own understanding of this word began to spread in Ukraine about 2010. Among the largest Ukrainian companies should be distinguished a group including "Omega Consulting", "Artan groups", "Albatross" etc.

Formally, the Ukrainian state already had its own PMCs at the time of the beginning of the military-political crisis. The conflict started in the Crimea, and then spread in the east. Today there is no exact data on whether the Ukrainian PMCs take part in police operations in the eastern areas of the country, or if they only advise the government on these or those questions. However it should be noticed, that the soldiers of PMCs did not give oath of allegiance, therefore, no one will force them to fight. To make them fight is unthinkable from the point of view of morality, and from the point of view of the law. Many Russian editors extraordinarily advocate for the emergence local PMCs in Russia. On the example of Ukraine you can be convinced that PMCs are not a guarantee of national security, they are only executors of the will of their customers. Despite the absence of exact data, we, nevertheless, can with a high level of probability claim, that the Ukrainian PMCs didn't take active part in military operations on the side of the Ukrainian state in the east of Ukraine until August, 2014. Such firms as "Albatross" and "Group Vega" continued to work only in the sphere of security of sea transports, mostly for foreign ship-owners.

PMCs are military and commercial structures at the same time, and the commercial component prevails in their nature. It can be explained by the fact that most of these companies are created for the purpose of making money – this banal reason explains their not always "correct" behavior. Many ordinary people and even the military editors consider PMCs as something like a mercenary army; this is a very serious error, and the actions of the Ukrainian PMCs clearly confirm it. These organizations by their very nature are created for making money in the power sector (not only in military), and on the third or fourth plan only comes the question of participation or non-participation in the military conflicts.

The participation of American PMCs in the Ukrainian crisis is emphasized, first of all, by mass media within the pro-Russian vector of broadcasting. There were videos posted on internet, showing few people in a strange military uniform marching through the streets of Donetsk (this video was uploaded and downloaded by many users of Youtube in March, 2014[2].). However this video is inconclusive in the end, as it could as well be local airsoft players. (Their equipment and clothes is very difficult to distinguish from real military outfit, as well as their weapons). Considering the huge number of inconsistencies and even outright lies in many and many mass media, it is quite confusing that the pro-Russian sites hurried up to rank people on this video as being staff of the “Black Water” company which ceased to exist long time ago, being transformed into some other private military and security firms. It can be explained, most likely by the fact that the name "Black Water" is very famous because of high profile punitive expeditions against civilians and rebel forces in Iraq done by that company. The actions of "Black Water" in Iraq were well known to the Russian viewers, and making a hint about the participation this odious force in the conflict in Ukraine would be extremely tempting for the Russian propaganda. We assume that in this case, the mass media offered us false information. Internet users also uploaded other videos. On one of them, posted even before the beginning of the military conflict, some people in militarized clothes immobilized, knocked to the ground another man in military uniform. This knocked down man declares: “I am USA's citizen!”[3]. This video also seems strange to us. Those militarized men could have turned the hostage, to show his face and much, much more loudly declare about the presence of foreign citizens, as after all this is a very important thing. That did not happen. Therefore, this video also raises serious doubts. The video with helicopters of American production over Dnepropetrovsk is also not a fact of the presence of PMCs in Ukraine. The German newspaper "Der Spiegel" also expressed doubts about the information on 400 employees of "Blackwater" in Ukraine[4] though many pro-Russian Internet resources have reported the opposite.

In this case, most likely, we are in front of some fraudulent information.

The pro-Ukrainian mass media in this regard naturally fabricated outright fiction about the participation of Russian PMCs in the conflict in the Eastern regions of the country. For example, the website "City News"[5] in the article “The Separatist Donbass: To some, war is hell, to others, a kindly mother as for Russian PMCs”. The article was in fact written by a Ukrainian company specializing in security of sea vessels "Vegacy Strategic Services Ltd" whose owner is the native of Nikolayev Anatoly Smolin and the English PMCs «Bowline Defense», also specializing in sea transport security. It is not worth a straw.

Also according to pro-Russian information sites and services, as well as from Internet resources sympathizing with LPR and DNR, there was an information about the participation in the armed conflict of «Grey stone» - a subsidiary of the company «Academi LLC». A short time after this, an announcement of the availability of good job in Russia was posted on the company's website; in spring 2014 this announcement disappeared. No conclusive data on the participation of this PMC in the conflict could yet found, although the rebel forces reported that there were casualties from this military company.

Sites supporting DNR and LPR also reported about the participation in military operations on the side of the ATO forces of Polish PMC "ASBS Othago" (Systemowe Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz)[6]. That was also not confirmed.

Much more interestingly in this regard are photographs. On one of the photos, the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko appears surrounded by men armed with special P90 submachine gun and hats with the logo of the company "Aegis Defense". Though this information was disseminated primarily by Pro-Russian media, there is a reason to trust it because «Aegis Defense» already worked in Ukraine according to the data of British experts[7]. This company could easily to consulting the Ukrainian government. The employees of this military company have very serious connections in the CIS countries. In particular, the Russian corporation "Gazprom" is a regular customer of the company «Aegis Defense». British mercenaries provided security for employees of "Gazprom" and the company's assets in Baghdad, and now continue to perform their security functions. Such commercial connections do not hinder this company to work "on two fronts". This is one of the examples of the internationalization of capital. Another illustration of that is the fact that large production facilities of the company «Roshen», belonging to Petro Poroshenko are located near Lipetsk in Russia. «Aegis Defense» is a British company with a high income and a sufficient number of employees for the formation of an entire division. The management of the company includes representatives of the high ranks of army, navy and intelligence services of Great Britain. This PMC is actively cooperating with the US and British corporations ... and as we see it with Russian ones. However, it seems strange, as Russia and the USA are engaged in an open information warfare and economic struggle around the Ukrainian crisis. The war has become a commercial project, so this situation is normal for the modern world. Nowadays it is absolutely needed to take a sober look at all these things and realize that the idea of nationalism and geopolitics, as if they were not imposed as a fashion or other thing, are not adequate for understanding what is happening. Some "national interests" actually have under themselves no material bases. The popularization of such ideas is nothing more than a distraction of the large number of people from the important problems and a means of justification of certain actions. In modern society the interests of multinational corporations are most strongly defended, all others are leveled. This is well illustrated by the example of the European Union. When the need arose, the multinational corporation of the European countries created huge continental state in a very short time. However, more or less hundred years ago the subjects of the EU met on the bloody battlefield. The national interests of these countries got irrelevant as soon as these countries were united under the power of the general interest of the European companies. Various editors and analysts, and also simple bloggers, sometimes express the opinion that, for example, Russia needs PMCs. In fact, it is a foolish idea. PMCs appear where and when they need to the large capital. To expect a sovereign policy in this matter is very strange, and we should once again to repeat, that PMCs are created for the purpose of receiving profit. The Apologists of PMCs in Russia give such argument: the former officers will find for themselves high paying job. The question arises: who will pay for these jobs? Some think that the state will pay. And there is the following question: if the state pays PMCs for this or that military action, and the funds go not only into the pockets of former soldiers, but in the pockets of the owners of the PMCs, why not pay a normal salary to the ordinary officers and soldiers of the contract army?

PMCs as commercial organizations can always be redirected to their own people, because employees of a private firm do not give the oath of allegiance and quite often stay outside of the legal field.

In this regard we will consider one of the episodes of possible use of PMCs during the Ukrainian crisis. First of all, we are talking about the military-political operation of Russia in Crimea. So far, the official Russian authorities did not answer on the question whether PMCs were used in Crimea or not. Many Russian journalists give a positive answer to this question. Among the companies capable to participate in such action are usually distinguished “RSB-Group”, and "Moran Security". An active role during this operation in Crimea could also have had a team of former PMC “Slavonic Corps”.

The military-political action in Crimea was initiated by the Russian Federation for a number of reasons which concerned in many respects the interests of the Russian state itself. However let's pay attention that in the Crimea the situation remains calm. No "Al-Qaeda" appeared among the Crimean Tatars; Ukrainian nationalists did not hurry to arrange diversion on the peninsula. Also pay attention to the fact that the Ukrainian navy in the Black Sea does not show activity, and neither does the Russian Navy.

The move of Crimea under the power of the Russian Federation received the status quo, including from the USA. Russian troops and PMCs in Crimea were defending not only the interests of Russia. Let us remember where Yanukovych went in the winter, when the country's political crisis was raging in full. "Pro-Kremlin" President Yanukovych went to... China.

Long before the beginning of Maidan-2014, there was a serious change in the financial system of Ukraine. In June 2012, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine Sergiy Arbuzov signed a three-year swap agreement[8] with the People's Bank of China[9]. Ukraine was the 12th country which received a swap of PRC. In fact, the National Bank of Ukraine made the decision to store foreign-exchange reserves in US dollars, in bills and metals but also in Chinese yuan (about 7.5% in 2012, according to the Ukrainian government experts).

In 2013 the Ukrainian bourgeoisie lost the opportunity to pursue an independent foreign policy. Maneuvering between the EACU and the European Union, the economic elite of the country decided to delegate President Viktor Yanukovych to run the negotiations in China. In December 2013 he will sign a number of international treaties with China. The texts of these documents are virtually inaccessible to the ordinary citizens of Ukraine. One of these texts offers to buy the main legal business portal of Ukraine "The league: The law[10]." («Liga: Zakon»). The most coherent information on the nature of the December negotiations with China can be obtained from the Chinese government sites.

If you recall, the opposition did everything possible to prevent the president from flying to China; he was criticized by opposition leaders, while mass protests inexorably spread in the country. Nevertheless, the president, dead or alive, had to depart to China, and he «flew», urged by those who were interested in the development of Chinese business in Ukraine. Within one year, the People's Republic of China only received two foreign state delegations and if at the end of 2013 the delegation of Ukraine did not visit China, full hegemony would be reached by pro-American opposition. And so, even after "the bloody dictator" was deposed, the representatives of a new government were compelled to ratify the treaties signed by him. According to the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Ukraine and the PRC was ratified, and the relevant law about ratification was signed by the Acting President of Ukraine of 15 may 2014[11].

During Victor Yanukovich's visit to the PRC, ten international treaties were signed, the content of which is still unknown to us. One thing is clear that President went to China, despite deepest political crisis and these treaties had huge values for both sides, first of all they lobbied the military-political interests of China and the interests of its industrial corporations.

On December 5, 2013 were signed:

«A treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Ukraine and PRC».

«A general declaration between Ukraine and People's Republic of China on the further deepening of their strategic partnership».

“A program of development of strategic partnership between Ukraine and PRC for 2014-2018 years”.

"A treaty between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the People's Republic of China on economic and technical cooperation".

“A protocol of phytosanitary inspection requirements for exports of soybeans from Ukraine to PRC between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the General Administration of Quality Supervision , Inspection and Quarantine of the PRC”.

“A protocol of phytosanitary inspection requirements for barley exports from Ukraine to PRC between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the General Administration of Quality Supervision , Inspection and Quarantine of the PRC”.

“A memorandum of Understanding between the State Agency of Ukraine for Tourism and Resorts and the National Tourism Administration of China on the Promotion group of Chinese tourists trips to Ukraine”.

“A memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and the State Administration of Traditional Medicine of China on cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine”.

“An agreement on cooperation in the fields of energy efficiency, energy saving and renewable energy sources between the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine and the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure)”.

“An agreement on cooperation between the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the China International Contractors Association”.

China's plans concerning Ukraine were huge. In total the Chinese companies planned to invest about $20 billion in the economy of Ukraine.

Yet in the fall of 2013 Xi Jinping expressed his intention to re-create the "silk road economic belt". This trade route passes through the North-Western region of China, including unstable regions of the Uighurs, then through Kazakhstan, Russia, Krasnoyarsk region, Crimea, and Greece.

In the long term, it is considered to build a railways line through the territory of Russia to the Baltic Sea with access to the northern ports of Germany.

It is extremely important to Beijing to connect itself physically with Europe to deliver its huge export to EU countries. For this purpose at the end of 2013, the representatives of Ukraine were also invited to China. According to a senior researcher of the "Society of Political Studies India"[12] Monisha Gulati, the construction of a port in Crimea is very important for Chinese corporations. A strengthening of relationship between Russia and China in the Crimea should be expected, as Chinese business intends to get direct access to a stable maritime link between Crimea and Greece. Many Ukrainian websites and media rushed to declare about termination of Chinese investments into the Crimean economy. The Russian websites stated that all of these arrangements remain in force. Actually, it is about the termination of a number of planned investments and the change of their nature. Crimea became part of the Russian Federation and that involves also changes in policy of China. In particular the Chinese government is considering the possibility of the construction of a large port in Crimea together with the implementation of projects of naval construction of the Russian Federation.

This port is intended in the future to secure the connection of the Chinese economy with the economy of the Old Continental Europe. The building of such port may be somewhat inhibited due to the development of military operations in the east regions of Ukraine.

This case is complicated by the fact that China had a large number of mutually beneficial agreements with Ukraine, as Chinese diplomacy traditionally treated Ukraine with great attention. But it did not turn out for China to bind Ukraine firmly to itself. From the military-political point of view, it was very important for Tianxia “to embrace Russia in a friendly hug” not only from the East but also from the West. Simplifying a lot, it is possible to tell that for China, Ukraine concerning Russia is something like Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic for Russia concerning Ukraine. On one hand it is advantageous to China to have an Ukrainian ally independent from the Russian Federation with a well-developed nationalism - it is worth to remember at least the magnificent celebration of the 200th anniversary of T.G. Shevchenko in Beijing. On the other hand it is favorable for the USA to have an aggressive anti-Russian Ukraine. But it is better for China to keep Ukraine as a vassal of its vassal, than being the faithful ally of Washington.

China's position towards Ukraine is clear. Indecisive at first glance, the position of China in fact is driven by the desire to win for itself the greatest number of advantages.

The USA and the pro-American EU party decided that hitting directly in the heart of the economic interests of China can bring too heavy consequences, and therefore accepted the annexation of Crimea by Russia. But at the same time, keeping control over the top establishment of Ukraine, they assumed that if things do not turn out as planned, and if the Chinese-Russian block gets the entire Ukraine back, it shall be only in an “appropriate” state.

To prevent the strengthening of China and its union with Ukraine and construction of a new "Silk Road" the USA went to forcing political and military operations in Ukraine, and a destabilization of the situation in the country, starting a long civil military conflict. Thus, the establishment of the USA solved at once several problems.

Here we can talk about the second part of PMC's participation in the Ukrainian crisis. For more than twenty years of existence of the Ukrainian armed forces, the country saw a very fast degradation of the army and other institutions. Military experts, who realized the extent of the collapse of the military system of the former USSR, have committed suicide, and they were not so many.

Since May 2014, it became obvious that the military force of the country had lost its ability of even banal operation. The help of PMCs of the countries of NATO at this stage was mainly reduced to consultation of the military and political establishment of Ukraine.

Information on participation of PMCs in combat operations in the east of the country was reported so far only from informal sources who cited the leaders of the breakaway republics. First of all, we are talking about the data of the Minister of Defence of DNR who reported about a number of casualties from foreign private military companies "Greystone", "ASBS Othago" and so forth.

For now, there is no reliable information about direct participation of employees of PMCs as combatants in the conflict in Ukrainian.

This is one of the important advantages of private military companies compared with state armies. PMCs can operate as unobserved as possible.

Having open information, we can merely trace the chain of relationships between private military companies and the largest part of the Ukrainian crisis. Various radical organizations and individuals from Russia and the countries of Europe are directly participating in the armed conflict. These are the ideological organizations of nationalist, neo-fascist, religious persuasion, for which commercial benefit is not the prevailing motivation for participation in (LMC) in the southeast of Ukraine. They are not directly connected in any way with the private military companies.

Destructive activity of PMCs in Ukraine appeared, perhaps in a greater degree before the crisis, but it is far from being obvious.

For example, according to O. V. Valetsky and I.P. Konovalov interior ministry officials arrested in Odessa in 2008 the agents of the PMC «Muse Professional Group», who were trying to transport about ten ex-servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Afghanistan. It did not succeed in stopping the activity of "Muse Professional Group" in Ukraine. "Besides, in Ukraine through various veterans' organizations was organized the recruitment at first in 2005 by PMC BH Defense, and then in 2010 by PMC BritAm, which had a contract for the protection of oil companies in the south of Iraq" – as was reported in 2013 by the same authors.

The company mentioned above, «Aegis», at the same time carefully protects the interests of Russian "Gazprom" and of American puppet president Petro Poroshenko.

Undoubtedly, one of the main locomotives of the military-political crisis in Ukraine became the Anglo-American private intelligence corporation «TorchStone Page» created quite recently - in 2013. The leadership of the company includes Todd Cale - Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who was appointed to this post by President Barack Obama in 2009. He also held several key positions at the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. Larry Cunningham, one of the leaders of the security of US President (he also supervised the security arrangements for Mikhail Gorbachev). John Taylor – one of the operation managers in the response after the mailing of anthrax in the early 2000s. And there are many other not ordinary persons. Fate made it so, that dozens of leading experts in the field of national security and special operations from the United States, Britain, Latin America, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Poland and other countries for one year were united under the roof of one company. Peter Isaacs, one of the top UN officials in the sphere of fight against the international drug mafia for the sake of it even got a leading position in "G4S". During recent times, staff of the firm began to work in Russia. According to the data of the PMCs, they were engaged in gathering information about local Mafiosi in Russia. Interesting to know why former spies from around the world gathered information on criminal organizations in Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. For certain leading oil and gas corporations "TorchStone Page" conducted research in Ukraine concerning the reliability of "the potential partner", and also concerning "potential risk of reputation and responsibility"^[13].

A legitimate question is why the authorities of the Russian Federation allowed for a freely gathering information on their territory. In Ukraine, of course, the ongoing crisis reached in all spheres of life of society, but what hindered «to the defender of Russians" to stop the blatant intelligence and analytical work of such powerful corporation? Why this military-intelligence company started to work so actively in the CIS countries, and most importantly what forced "the leading oil and gas companies" to employ such a large PMC to study the situation in Ukraine?

We cannot ignore the activities of the Ukrainian PMC “Artan” that is closely linked to the Russian-Ukrainian company «Furkan defense industry». The latter, in its turn, is closely linked with Turkish business. There is proven information on the nature of the participation of Turkish partners in this business, but it is possible to assume that the Turkish branch of the company is an agent for offshore sales.

The company “Furkan Defense” sells various types of weapons, mostly based on Ukrainian technology of the last twenty years. Firstly, they mainly trade tanks from domestic developers, such as "Bulat" and “Yatagan”, Mi-24 helicopters, old air defense missile systems and other equipment. The main thing is that it is possible to produce these weapons by means of the Ukrainian developments only. It means that at a time when there is a war and when the official propaganda is choking in patriotic frenzy, private military and industrial firms sell weapons of exclusively domestic producers. What are the capabilities of these enterprises is not known, neither the nature of the work of “Furkan Defense” company. Secondly, if the Russian Federation can theoretically sell tanks and helicopters of those types,, assault rifles, rifles and pistols from the company "Fort" can only be sold by organizations having connection to the Ukrainian industry. Let’s remember that "Fort" is the manufacturer of all premium weapons for military personnel and staff of institutions of force of Ukraine! The third feature of the assortment of “Furkan Defense” includes old weapon. Namely, the three-line Mosin rifles models of 1891\1930, Mosin carbines model of 1944, Nagant Revolvers model of 1930, carbines Mauser model 1898, Thompson submachine guns model of 1928, SKS carbines and rifles SVT. The company sells a large number of weapons used during the Second World War and the ammunition to it. Where are made those weapons? We assume that these weapons are not actually made anywhere, and rather come from the warehouses of the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of the Interior ministry of Ukraine. The residents of Ukraine know well the name of such storage facility, named Novobohdanivka. Every summer with an surprising regularity, explosions occur in Novobohdanivka, due to the high temperature in such a huge army warehouse. Draw your own conclusions.

The war is not waged only for the purpose of achievement of victory over the opponent for a long time. If the war drags on – it instantly becomes a mean to make a fortune. It is important to understand that. War has ceased to be a political and actually military business; it is primarily a manufacturing and economic process.

Another example of the internationalization of capital can serve a private military company «Rokada». This company started to work since the 90s, now is an international organization, the core of which consists of the former officers of various security agencies of the USSR and the Russian Federation. It is managed by German managers, and the company operates in the interests of the various multinational corporations including Chinese corporations. The staff of “Rokada” provides security to the biggest oil companies in Iraq and other countries. These are the companies who are interested in the extraction of shale gas in Ukraine. At the same time the contractors of PMC "Rokada" provide security for a hotel houses chain “Sovinyon” in Odessa,^[14] restaurants and other facilities of the company Eurocity^[15] (the owner of the chain of restaurants and fast food "Evrohata"). The most interesting thing about this is that the company belongs to Russian business. In short, Russian PMCs work in the interests of those economic unions which act, conditionally speaking, for "European integration" of Ukraine and oppose the military-political position of Russia.

We have shown above only some examples of how confusing and contradictory are the interests of the countries and international companies. National "registration" of this or that company absolutely tells nothing about its interests.

During months of that crisis, we were so diligently fed with false information that we learned to be more willing to believe in fairy tales than to look at what happens under our very nose. Everyone rather believes that somewhere in the East are fighting Russian mercenaries from the PMC “Orthodoxy plus Kadyrov Company”, or PMC "American hawks-the bounty hunters" than believe that in a block from his house, in a rented basement under the sign "Legal Services" sits a representative of a really powerful and destruction Corporation.

PMCs are not armies, and, as you can see, tracking their activities is very difficult. What we see is at best only the tip of the iceberg. You should understand that at this moment, tens or even hundreds of commercial military agencies are playing games known so far only by themselves and their customers. While you read this text, the staff of these organizations carries out someone's orders of which we have no idea. Perhaps only years later we will find out what was the true role of these or those "mercenaries" in the Ukrainian crisis.

[1] http://www.g4s.com.ua/kompany.htm

[2] See for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VFMAIv8yvA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_xgxj_6Qo

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kEiWdUVgKE

[4] http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/ukraine-krise-400-us-soeldner-von-academi-kaempfen-gegen-separatisten-a-968745.html

[5] http://www.citynews.net.ua/news/35891-separatistskiy-donbass-komu-voyna-a-komu-mat-rodnaya.html

[6] It belongs to Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz ex - minister of interior of Poland.

[7] http://www.britishexpertise.org/bx/pages/Organisation_view/726.php

[8] This is a financial or commercial transaction implying the long period of an exchange of payments.

[9] http://comments.ua/money/346613-ukraina-perehodit-yuan.html

[10] http://search.ligazakon.ua/l_doc2.nsf/link1/MU13143.html

[11] http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1271-18

[12] http://spsindia.in/

[13] http://www.torchstonepageinc.com/info/geoReach.aspx

[14] http://www.sovinyon.com.ua/

[15] http://evrohata.com/

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