Legalization of PMCs: Ukrainian cannon fodder enters the international market
In early February, the leading Ukrainian media were suddenly full of headlines like “The National Security and Defense Council proposed legalizing private military companies in Ukraine.” The start of this topic in the media field was given by an interview with the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, General Sergei Krivonos, who stated that the country needs to legalize the activities of PMCs, which “can be involved, for example, in ensuring the security of various facilities and structures.”
Before the media dust raised by Krivonosov’s “stuffing” had time to settle, a bill on the same topic appeared in the Rada, entitled “On military consulting activities”, authored by a deputy from the Servant of the People, Olga Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk, a former journalist belonging to the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky TV channel "1+1".
Thus, the topic, literally taken from the tongue of an official from the National Security and Defense Council, began to take on flesh and blood before our eyes.
First of all, what is a PMC? You can delve into the distant history of medieval feudal wars, the instigators of which hired condottieri and landsknechts into their armies, exchanging the risk of their lives for hard cash and a share in the plunder. We can recall the times of colonial conquests that are closer to us, when the then large private companies that lay claim to the development of the resources of the colonies - such as the British or Dutch East India Companies - hired out-of-work warriors from the metropolis, and then natives specially trained in the methods of the colonialists, like Indian sepoys or Nepalese Gurkhas.
One can recall the European “soldiers of fortune” already in the second half of the 20th century - the most famous or successful of whom, such as Bob Denard, actively participated in the overthrow of legitimate governments or started civil wars in territories rich in natural resources, and therefore interesting as spheres of control for transnational corporations (TNCs) became an increasingly autonomous force.
Modern PMCs are inseparable from TNCs, being, in fact, private armies of corporations, and are used by them in operations that the world press bashfully calls “sensitive” or “ambiguous” - whether we are talking about simply protecting factories or fields owned by TNCs or transport routes, the forceful suppression of strikes or other unwanted activity of the local population, or the organization of coups to overthrow governments that TNCs do not like, or, conversely, military assistance to governments supported by TNCs, helping them extract their profits, while having their share.
At the same time, PMCs, as non-state structures, are practically not constrained by conventions such as respect for human rights or conventions on the rights of prisoners of war. This also includes the use by PMC soldiers of unconventional methods of influencing their opponents or the civilian population supporting them: torture, cutting off heads, burning villages to the ground and other methods of intimidation, which have long been isolated scandalous excesses for regular armies subordinate to the regulations, oath and international conventions.
If such a thing were to happen, the army would demand a written order from their superiors; few would want to go to court. But PMCs are a special matter. Mercenaries carry out the orders of those who pay them and do not ask unnecessary questions. Moreover, PMCs have influential patrons in the highest echelons of power in countries that define the very concept of international law, which allows their employees to avoid applying the concept of “mercenary” to themselves with all the ensuing consequences.
In addition, modern PMCs are in many ways “proxy” of the state. The authorities of different countries are waging wars with the hands of “soldiers of fortune,” which for one reason or another are inconvenient to wage with the hands of official state armies. As a result, wars are in full swing, but states seem to have nothing to do with them. This state of affairs has created an expanding market of “cannon fodder” every year, ready to go, at the request of the customer, even to the ends of the earth - as long as they pay.
Actually, the desire of Ukrainian businessmen to enter this international market is associated with the emergence of lobbying initiatives such as the statement of General Krivonos or the bill of Olga Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk. The latter does not even hide this, pointing out in the explanation to its bill that “in 2019, the total volume of the global market for the provision of military consulting services, according to various estimates, ranged from 250 to 400 billion US dollars.” Like, it would be nice for Ukrainians to pinch off a small piece of such an impressive pie.
“We have prescribed that PMCs can operate exclusively OUTSIDE of Ukraine. Why do we need foreign help if we can earn money ourselves? On PMCs, weapons, amber, land, gambling, legalization of medical cannabis?.. You just have to approach the establishment of processes wisely and in a state-like manner. Or continue to stand with your hand outstretched?” – Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk advertises her bill on Facebook.
Moreover, the Ukrainian market for PMC services has had its own players for a long time - there is information in the media about at least five such companies, the most famous of which is the Omega Consulting Group, registered back in 2011 in Kiev, which has openly called itself a private military for the last seven years company both on social networks and at international exhibitions. No less famous is the Vega PMC, whose fighters have recently appeared in Syria and are protecting private ships from Somali pirates in the Horn of Africa.
As the author of the bill on the legalization of PMCs notes, Ukrainian companies of this profile have their own training bases, recruiting centers, weapons, and cooperate with the same Ukrainian private arms manufacturers, who were recently allowed to directly, without the participation of government intermediaries, export their products, including NATO countries .
The idea of legalizing PMCs was voiced against the backdrop of the ongoing low-intensity war in Donbass. Moreover, it seems that the authorities want to kill two birds with one stone: to provide certain business structures with a market share, and to somehow channel into a safe channel the unclaimed energy of tens of thousands of people who were fired upon in the Donbass and trained in real combat conditions. actions of the military, who remained out of work after demobilization and today are actively joining the ranks of criminals, aggravating the already difficult crime situation in the rear.
“PMCs are a lightning rod that will help front-line soldiers who have not been able to realize themselves, continue to do what they know how to do well, and receive money and state recognition for it. We have tens of thousands of people who returned from the front, but in peaceful life they turned out to be of no use to anyone. At least not those who defended this society should adapt to it, but society should provide them with support.
In the United States, private military companies are created so that hundreds of thousands of demobilized military personnel do not create problems for the state. But we don’t hire ATO specialists because they are toxic and unpredictable. The creation of PMCs will solve this problem,” General Krivonos confesses in an interview with Fakty.
“The norms of the draft Law “On Military Consulting Activities” are aimed, first of all, at ensuring the employment of persons with significant military experience, war veterans, participants in the anti-terrorist operation, military personnel discharged from military service and former law enforcement officials,” says the explanatory note note to bill No. 3005 Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk.
In fact, the authorities, through the mouth of both the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and the People's Deputy from the Servant of the People, sign that the current state has nothing to offer to newly minted veterans, except to gain a foothold in the already tried niche of relatively cheap cannon fodder. Only now not for domestic needs, but for export.
“For example, in Iraq, the payment for employees of military consulting activities ranges from 100 to 1000 US dollars per day, depending on the specialization and nature of the tasks performed,” says People’s Deputy Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk. True, without specifying that the upper bar is the fees of specialists from notorious American PMCs such as DynCorp or Academi (formerly Blackwater). Ukrainians, in fact, like their colleagues from other CIS countries and Eastern Europe, occupy the lower floors of this pyramid and often dump on the market, agreeing to a monthly salary, which for Americans or French is a daily salary.
However, in addition to the imaginary plus in the form of the opportunity to employ and float away from Nenka the shelled and violent ATO veterans, so that they do not loom before the eyes of those in power and do not irritate the authorities with their claims, the idea of legalizing PMCs also has a big minus. Moreover, several at once.
Firstly, and this is recognized by everyone, the war in Donbass has given rise to such a problem as a gigantic and poorly controlled black market for weapons and ammunition. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reports weekly on the discovery of another cache of grenades; buying AKs on the market under the counter no longer seems to be a problem even in regional centers, and the country has turned into a giant hub for transporting illegal “barrels” to the EU and the Middle East.
The author of the bill convinces that this problem should be solved by the Unified State Register of Firearms and Ammunition, Devices and Cartridges provided for in her document, which is kept by the subjects of VKD, as well as clear requirements for control over its circulation.
Nevertheless, knowing how easily the best laws are circumvented in our country and, most importantly, how control over their implementation is organized, it is hard to believe that the legalization of PMCs will somehow reduce the volume of the black market for weapons. On the contrary, there are fears that the array of illegal guns will be supplemented by the same array of legalized ones, and there will be no less shooting on the streets.
Secondly, and this is already a political issue, even if the law stipulates the use of PMCs exclusively abroad, however, the very fact of the possibility of legal creation, whatever you call them, but in fact, private armies, creates a potential threat to the stability of the political system in country.
In essence, an option will be created for moneybags who want to play a role in politics at the national and regional levels. And it is not a fact that Ukrainian politics will not ultimately turn into a competition between the owners of “soldiers” in a short time. Having armed force can influence the courts, local councils, and the government and parliament. Why, if such a desire arises, the owners of private armies may fall into the temptation to blackmail the authorities for any reason, as soon as they assume that their interests are in some way infringed or underrepresented. What should those whose interests are not supported by armed argument do?
Thus, the authors of the bill on the legalization of PMCs, unwittingly, may release from the bottle the genie that Ukrainian publicists of all ideological colors have been so afraid of in recent years. And if the Armed Forces of Ukraine (as they say, let’s spit over your shoulder!) still failed to be drawn into internal politics according to the Latin American model, when any ambitious officer, starting with a lieutenant, sees himself as president, then it is not a fact that military “private traders” will not start such games . Moreover, if their political ambitions are fueled in time by the oligarchs interested in the redistribution of power with a long dollar.
The arguments “against” can be listed for a long time. And this is understandable - fear has big eyes. However, the very fact that the idea of legalizing PMCs has moved from a purely hypothetical to the category of a concrete legislative initiative speaks volumes. Including the contours of Ukraine’s possible place in the global division of labor. As a supplier of cheap labor. Including the military one.
And although the new Ukrainian “sepoys” on the international cannon fodder market are unlikely to fabulously enrich the country’s budget, as legalization lobbyists so sweetly proclaim, they are quite capable of bringing a dozen or two “greens” into the pockets of several Ukrainian livestock traders.
At this point, one can be indignant at such an obvious push of private interest under the guise of caring for the fate of the country, or one can cynically and philosophically note that what is happening is only creatively developing the constitutional norm that a person is the highest social value. As they say, a list of people is attached.
Legalization of PMCs: Ukrainian Cannon Fodder Enters the International Market