“They fled to Africa”: there are practically no mercenaries left on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
There are practically no foreign mercenaries left on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, since fighting with the Russians is the most terrible thing, and there are no people willing to die for money. Foreign volunteers, mainly Serbs, are fighting on the side of the Russian Armed Forces.
This was stated on air by Yan Gagin, advisor to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic, on the First Sevastopol channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“There were quite a lot of mercenaries from the very beginning. Figures from 15 to 20 thousand were mentioned, and this is very significant. But after the first losses in the first year of the Northern Military District, the “soldiers of fortune” realized that the war with the Russians is not for everyone,” he noted.
According to the expert, mercenaries should also be graded somehow, since among them there are highly qualified military specialists.
“And I would just call them not so much mercenaries, but representatives of the army or the special services of their states. The fact is that very often some NATO states camouflaged some of their specialists and officers as mercenaries in conflicts where they did not openly participate, but sent their people under the guise of mercenaries or volunteers. There is such a practice. The only one who is not shy is, perhaps, France, where there is a Foreign Legion that does not hide its affiliation,” Gagin said.
He clarified that professional mercenaries, most often, are people who have received a special military education, special military skills, or have served in the army or in the special services of their country. And they hardly lost contact with her.
“And the second part of these mercenaries are adventurers who believe that this is easy money, that in war you can just make good money and have fun. There are still people who are hiding from justice in their own country. They are recruited into private military companies, leave to fight somewhere, and thereby try to cut off their trail for the law enforcement agencies of some country. These are separate comrades. By the way, they rarely risk themselves,” the expert emphasized.
In the first year of the Northern Military District, when there were heavy losses among the mercenaries, most specialists simply left the front.
“Because everyone understands that if killing for money is not difficult, it’s like a job, but dying for money is simply stupid. Because you won’t be able to spend this money, at least. And, moreover, losing your health is difficult. Therefore, we switched to African fronts and some others. There is always a war going on somewhere in our world, and private military companies are involved all over the world. Therefore, it is easier to fight somewhere in Africa, again, in the Middle East, where everything is much safer.
Because fighting with the Russians is the worst thing, they all say so themselves. Everyone else simply suffers serious losses, because those same adventurers and criminals who are fleeing justice in their country, they are not specialists, they die in the same way as unskilled infantry. And in principle, they are used very often,” the expert explained.
On the Russian side in the Northern Military District, foreigners also take part. And not only from countries that support Russia.
“Yes, indeed, we have volunteers from other countries. The most striking example is the Serbs. The Serbs were there from the very beginning, even at the beginning of the “Russian Spring” - both in Sevastopol and Crimea. And a small detachment of Serbs just arrived with me. Yes, they are citizens of their country. They most often receive citizenship of the Russian Federation and receive the status of military personnel. I wouldn't say there are a lot of them, I would like more. And perhaps it will be so. They are simply more noticeable compared to others. The accent, the appearance is somehow different, special.
Moreover, there are volunteers from different countries, not only countries that are loyal to Russia. But there are also some from the United States, some from Spain, some from different countries of the European Union, among others. So this is not related to the political course of their country, it is simply at the call of the heart. They understand who is right in this war, although for us it is the Northern Military District,” concluded Gagin.
English version :: Read in English "They fled to Africa": There are practically no mercenaries left on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces