Russian officials claim that our troops are not involved in the ground operation in Syria. But is it. Skynews journalists interviewed two former mercenaries who fought in Syria as part of the Wagner PMC.

“Only a small number of instructors and military advisers,” Russian officials keep saying that there is no need for a ground operation in Syria.

These claims about the low cost of the Syrian conflict for Russia may be seriously questioned by the story of two young people who argue that Russian involvement in the Syrian events is much larger and at a cost that the Putin administration is unlikely to be willing to admit.

The interlocutors told reporters that they were recruited by the private military company Wagner to serve in Syria and were taken there on board a Russian military transport aircraft.

For the equivalent of £3,000 a month, these men were thrown right into the thick of the fighting against insurgent groups, including the Islamic State.

Two of this group, Dmitry and Alexander, told reporters that they were happy only because they were alive.

“About 50/50,” says Alexander (not his real name). “Those who go there for money tend to die. Those who go to fight for an idea, to fight against the Americans, their special forces, have a better chance of surviving.”

“Approximately 500-600 people died there,” Dmitry says. “No one will ever know about them… It's a terrible thing. Nobody will ever know."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned in February that the deployment of foreign ground forces in Syria could lead to a new world war. Probably, in his opinion, Russian mercenaries do not fall into their number - although analysts are not too surprised by this.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer believes that the use of mercenaries is quite consistent with the Russian doctrine of "hybrid warfare".

“Obviously, Wagner exists. This kind of "volunteers" appear in the zones of various conflicts, where the Russian government wants to be represented. First Crimea, then Donbass, and today Syria. And they are all there illegally,” he adds.

They accuse the Russian authorities of hiding this information.

“Did anyone tell you about this? Sometimes the bodies are cremated, and the documents say “missing”, sometimes the papers say that the soldier was killed in the Donbass, and sometimes they write - a car accident or something like that,” says Alexander.

Dmitry claims that the number of Russian losses in Syria is in the hundreds.

“Sometimes they burn it, sometimes they don't,” he says. “Often it’s just a hole in the ground. A lot depends on how commanders treat the dead soldier,” he adds.

Dmitry has already returned to Moscow, but experiences still haunt him. When he was recruited by Wagner, he handed over his papers. He went to the training base to look for them, but ended up with the police instead. The officer told him in no uncertain terms that "Wagner never existed."

Dmitry said he knew about 50 other Syrian survivors who, like him, roam the streets of Moscow without documents.

“No one knows me. He just threw me out,” says Dmitry.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

1. Union of fascists with recidivists.

Roma was killed, but the people, the shots that he put forward, are still alive. One of them, whom Roma left us as a keepsake, is Putin's cook Prigozhin. He could not have gotten so close to Putin and Zolotov if Tsepov had not helped. As they say, a man is dead, but his work lives on.

4. Forces of special machinations.

In general, as you understand, Putin's chef is a man with a rich biography. And in 2000-2001. she made another zigzag: Prigozhin left from under the roof of Misha Kutaissky and went over to Tsepov-Zolotov. And soon he ended up in Putin's inner circle.

After this, the affairs of our hero went uphill dramatically. From a mediocre restaurateur, he turned into a supplier of prepared meals for schools and military units for huge sums. But at some point, this seemed not enough. And somewhere since 2012, Prigozhin began to be attracted to a non-core (non-kitchen) business.

At first it was a project to litter the Internet with Zaputin's propaganda. With the money of Prigozhin (i.e. from the budget), the famous troll factory in Olgino appeared in St. Petersburg, which then moved to Savushkina, 55, then to the Lakhta-2 business center, etc.

Petersburg, BC "Lakhta-2" on Optikov street, 4. Most of Zaputin's comments on social networks are written here.

In addition to this factory for writing comments, in 2014, the Federal News Agency (FAN) also appeared - a group of sites that distributes Zaputin and GB nonsense under the guise of news on the Web. From the series: “The United States is in a panic over our new fighter. Russophobes of the State Department strangled themselves with shoelaces.” True, they overdid it, and in 2017 Google threw out all the FAN sites from Google News along with the archive for all the years. But "Yandex News" continues to give out this Prigogine garbage in batches.

And finally, since 2014, Prigozhin began to participate not only in information, but also in real wars of the Putin regime - in the east of Ukraine, he received the baptism of fire from the Wagner PMC. And in the fall of 2015, she was transferred to Syria.

Moscow, 2016. Wagner PMC commanders in the Kremlin. Judging by the Russian press, in Lugansk Utkin liked to go out wearing a Wehrmacht helmet. In the image, that is. It is strange that he did not wear it to the Kremlin. Still meeting with the Fuhrer.

The one to Putin's left is Andrey Troshev ("Grey"), Utkin's deputy in the PMC. Former paratrooper, then served in SOBR. According to Russian media reports, in June 2017 he was found on the street in St. Petersburg in a state of "severe alcohol intoxication", taken to the hospital. He had 5 million rubles with him, some maps of Syria, papers on PMC Wagner. I almost drank away a military secret, in short.

Another participant in the reception in the Kremlin is Ratibor, aka Alexander Kuznetsov. This is a major from the Senezh center in Solnechnogorsk (“sunflowers”, special operations forces of the Moscow Region). In 2008, Major Ratibor went to jail for robbery and kidnapping. In 2013, he miraculously got out of prison and became a mercenary.

It is noteworthy that in the same place in Solnechnogorsk, where "sunflowers" grow, the private security company "Stealth" is now based, about which Litvinenko once wrote. The CHOP was established in the 1990s. jointly by the FSB and the Izmailovo organized criminal group to commit contract killings - for hire and on the orders of the Motherland. Special Forces soldiers were involved in the private security company. The office was a living symbol of the merging of the FSB and the mafia - it was already impossible to determine where one ended and the other began.

The private security company Stealth was founded by FSB Colonel Lutsenko (he still works there), and General Khokholkov (“Yeltsin’s Sudoplatov”) was his curator in the 1990s. The general also protected the heroin trade, and the private security company was his help in the showdown. In short, special operations forces (fraternities with Chekists).

Returning to PMC Wagner, it is worth noting that it also arose on the basis of the under-roof office of the special services: the backbone of PMC Wagner was formed back in 2013 as part of a security company "Moran Security Group", which is headed by Putin's colleague in the KGB Vyacheslav Kalashnikov.

Moran is a firm that has been recruiting mercenaries since 2010 to guard ships abroad (including those carrying smuggling). It was to Kalashnikov that Utkin first went to Moran, having retired from the army in 2013. Major Kuznetsov (Ratibor) also began his career as a mercenary there, after leaving prison, and many others.

FSB lieutenant colonel Vyacheslav Kalashnikov from Petersburg. The person who picked up the key shots for PMC Wagner:

In 2013, the first (unsuccessful) attempt was made to send mercenaries to Syria for operations on land through the Kalashnikov company. They gathered a small unit (267 people), with the loud name "Slavic Corps", and sent to fight for Assad. However, without air and artillery support, the mercenaries could not fight, they fled in the first battle and were sent back to Russia.

This detachment included Utkin and the future commanders of Wagner PMC. The first pancake came out lumpy, but in 2014 they were remembered again, creating a new, larger gang, which went to war on a grand scale - in Ukraine, again in Syria, etc. And the lackey cook was attracted to pay for all this (from the budget money in the end, so it’s not a pity).

The Russian private army fought in Syria, which is unofficially called the "Wagner Group". This is evidenced by a journalistic investigation conducted by the Estonian Russian-language TV channel ETV+.

According to ETV+, mercenaries who have gone through many hot spots serve in the Wagner Group. They are given the toughest jobs. In particular, as one of the members of the group told the TV channel, 300 "Wagnerites" had to fight two thousand fighters of the Islamic State.

Portal Mixnews publishes this investigation with the permission of Estonian colleagues.

Oleg served in Syria in a military unit that did not officially exist on paper, but which was known as the "Wagner Group" or "musicians", fought on the side of the Syrian pro-government forces and was formed from experienced fighters by order of the Russian Defense Ministry. Oleg participated in the battles for the liberation of Palmyra. His salary was 4,500 euros per month plus bonuses.

Russia launched a military operation in civil war-torn Syria just over a year ago, on September 30, 2015. A lot has changed since then. If then the house of Assad held on by a thread of death, then after Russian intervention, the loyalists managed to recapture Palmyra from the Islamic State and win a crushing victory in Aleppo.

All these successes of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), which was pretty battered in the heat of the war, would have been unthinkable without the support of Russia. It carries out air and missile strikes against government forces, supplies weapons and trains some units.

Officially, there are no fighters in the Russian contingent who do "dirty work" - people of the "Wagner group". No such unit or private military company formally exists. But this is on paper. In reality, the Russians managed to make war in different parts of Syria against both the Islamic State and the "greens" - various groups that are considered moderate opposition in the West.

When asked why Oleg went to Syria, he replies: “I was a hired worker, but I don’t give a damn about this war. I like this job, if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t work there.”

Oleg is not worried that he can be called a hired killer: "So it is, I went for money. Maybe it's easier, really?" Meeting on the street, you do not recognize him as a soldier of fortune - Hollywood clichés do not work. A regular guy. A merry fellow whose eyes well up with tears as he remembers his fallen comrades.

New Slavic Corps

The Wagner Group is no ordinary private military company. This is a miniature army. “We had a complete kit: mortars, howitzers, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers,” Oleg explains.

In some circles, the fighters of the unit are called musicians: the unit commander allegedly chose a call sign in honor of the German composer Richard Wagner. According to some reports, 47-year-old reserve lieutenant colonel Dmitry Utkin is hiding behind this call sign. He served in the special forces in Pechory. This is not the first time in Syria - before that, he quite officially worked as part of a private military company known as the Slavic Corps.

The company was hired by Syrian magnates to guard oil fields and convoys in Deir ez-Zor. However, in October 2013, in the city of Al-Sukhna, the guards got into serious trouble: they entered into an unequal battle with the jihadists of the Islamic State. “Participants told me, an enchanting battle, almost an oncoming battle for the city. Almost two thousand militants against two hundred or three hundred guards,” says Oleg.

After these events, the contract between the customer and the guards broke down. According to Oleg, they did not agree on payment: the "Syrian bigwigs" refused to pay extra for more dangerous work and began to threaten the Russians. "Slavic Corps" left Syria.

The Wagner Group has another, more serious customer - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF). Before being transferred to Syria in the fall of 2015, the “musicians” underwent three months of training at the Molkino training ground in direct proximity to the base of a separate special forces brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate.

The Wagner Group arrived in Syria by plane. And these were not Aeroflot liners, smiling, says Oleg. The fighters were transported on transport planes of the 76th airborne division, which is deployed in the Pskov region.

"The Pskov planes took us. From Molkino by bus to Moscow: we received international passports. From there to Chkalovsky, from Chkalovsky to Mozdok by plane. Two hours for refueling and maintenance. And another five hours flight: over the Caspian Sea, Iran, Iraq and landing on base Khmeimim. Turkey does not let through - directly it is impossible, "the fighter explains. After their arrival, they were settled in the sports complex of the city, which Oleg preferred not to name.

Equipment, including artillery and tanks, was transferred by sea using the so-called "Syrian Express" - on the ships of the Russian Navy from Novorossiysk to Tartus. From various sources it is known that the group was sent to Syria twice: for a short period in the fall of 2015 and to participate in a longer operation in the winter and spring of the following year. Each trip is a separate contract.

As a rule, Wagner's men are experienced fighters who have gone through several conflicts. And although you will not see recruitment advertisements in the newspapers, the group did not experience problems with the recruitment of specialists.

Oleg admits that he didn’t go to Wagner the first time - he didn’t trust: “Practically, they get through an acquaintance and only. As such, there is no free admission. When recruiting, they conduct a couple of tests: for alcohol and drugs. ".

Among the Wagnerites there are many who fought in the Donbass on the side of the separatists. They undergo an additional polygraph test. They may even ask if they are agents of the FSB - the special services in Wagner do not favor. The group has its own security department that fights against information leaks. Finding photos of Russian condottiere on the net is a great success. This is a misdemeanor that entails serious sanctions for the guilty.

In Syria, fighters were paid 300,000 rubles (about 4,500 euros) a month plus bonuses. There was also a kind of insurance system: about 300,000 rubles for a wound and covering the cost of treatment in high-quality clinics. For death - five million rubles to the family. Although from a legal point of view, the contract with the Wagner group is an insignificant piece of paper, Oleg confirms that they paid everything to the last penny and even more. But there is no question of complete safety.

So, do you have any protection?

From what?

From the state.

From the state, I think not.

Gone through hell

The civil war in Syria is merciless - the interests of many countries are intertwined here. On both sides of the front, hundreds of factions are fighting with different motivations, but not a single one can be denied cruelty. Why does Russia need this stupid war, Oleg prefers not to think about it. “I haven’t seen smart wars yet,” he retorts.

According to Oleg, the government-controlled territories are dominated by a predominantly secular lifestyle. A woman in a veil is a rarity, although many wear a hijab. In the liberated areas of Latakia, the local population is more likely for Assad.

“In Latakia, there are portraits of Assad and Hafez Assad, the president’s fathers, all around. Otherwise, the locals don’t show relationships. This is a civil war – you are either for or against. If you try to be neutral, then you will most likely feel bad,” Oleg describes.

The locals treat the Russians well, and the Syrian military almost idolizes them. “We are Russians for them. You see, they are very glad that the Russians have arrived. Finally, they think, I can sit down and drink mate again, let the Russians fight,” Oleg says smiling. “When we arrived in one city, they danced there all night in the squares, shot into the air for joy, but how upset they were later when we left!

The once prosperous Murek, after the departure of the Russian "musicians", was left by the Syrians. Years of war have depleted the manpower of the Syrian Arab Army. Coupled with a lack of fighting spirit and military training, only individual units remain combat-ready: “Firstly, they have no training: they don’t even know how to shoot. Secondly, they have a terrifying attitude towards weapons: they don’t even clean them.”

This is largely why, according to various sources, the Wagner Group was used as a fire brigade - it operated where it was most difficult and, with the exception of the operation near Palmyra, in small groups.

“We have always been where the most scum, hell itself was. All I saw was the worst hell,” Oleg does not hide his disdain for the Syrian militias and the military, which, according to him, cannot be distinguished. “God forbid, to have such allies. Because they always miss the mission. Always."

In Latakia, due to the inaction of the Syrians, the "Wagner group" suffered significant losses. Oleg retells the circumstances of that battle he heard from his colleagues with poorly concealed irritation. On that day, the Russians were supposed to cover the attack of the Syrians on the mountain and suppress enemy firing points on neighboring heights. After the end of the artillery preparation, the Syrians refused to go on the attack. The Wagner Group had to take over the job. The ascent to the mountain was uneventful, but at the top the Russians were under fire from three sides.

"The mountain is completely bare. If you are not in a trench, it's the end. The wounded appear, they need to be evacuated. How many people drop out? At least two are dragged, others cover. The path along which the guys climbed turned out to be under fire - you can’t go. I had to go down the mined slope" - says Oleg.

Wagner's men lost that day about twenty people wounded and not a single one killed.

The Russians tried to force the allies to attack by force - they jumped into the trenches and fired at their feet, but they did not budge. “And the Syrians did not stop firing at the height. It turns out that they shot our people in the ass. It was hell,” Oleg complains.

According to him, in the fall, the Wagner Group lost about 15 people killed. Half of them in one day: from a munition explosion in a campground. What it was, Oleg does not know, there were versions about a mortar mine or an American bomb. In winter-spring, the losses were greater, but he could not give exact numbers.

This is not the only reason why Oleg does not like government forces. “They steal everything that is not nailed down. They drag everything: pipes, wiring, even tiles were torn off. I saw how the toilet was dragged away,” he explains. Oleg did not hear about punishments for looting among the Syrians.

Fought for Palmyra

However, Oleg does not have a high opinion of the "babahs" - this is the name of the armed opposition, which is considered moderate in the West. According to him, the concept of the Free Syrian Army should be understood as hundreds of groups, including Islamist ones, that periodically fight each other for territory: "They need something to eat." Although he admits: "Greens are different."

"The Turkomans are good guys. Good guys, I respect them. They fight desperately because they are fighting for their villages. If they leave the village, everyone leaves. They are generally different people. It would be beneficial for the Syrians to oust them from Latakia completely. In fact, ethnic cleansing," he states.

In 2016, the Wagner Group was united and transferred to Palmyra to fight the Islamic State. If in the fall about 600 mercenaries operated in Syria, then in winter and spring their number doubled. “Near Palmyra it was easier, because we were all gathered together and we performed one integral task,” says Oleg.

According to him, as such, there were no battles in the city. In difficult battles, the “Wagner group” occupied all the important heights, after which the jihadists simply left the devastated city: “There is a highway behind the ridge. .

ISIS have proven themselves to be fanatical fighters, spreading terror among Iraqis and Syrians alike. Oleg, on the other hand, points out that Islamists from Europe are probably fighting well, but they have not encountered such people. Blacks are also different. They have local militias: the fighter has a machine gun and nothing else. Such a "black" also does not know how to fight. There was a case. The observers reported that unknown people drove up in cars, lined up in a wedge and were coming at us. They were covered with artillery, no one shot from a machine gun - they put everyone down, ”he recalls.

However, there are obvious advantages on the side of the Islamists: “They are very literate. Ours occupied the ridge, and they left Palmyra: they didn’t arrange Stalingrad.

Having completed the task, the Wagner group left the city. The laurels of the winners went to the Syrian troops, who had already entered the empty city. However, the government troops did not keep the victory won by the Russians: on December 11, 2016, the Islamists recaptured Palmyra.

The fall of this city is eloquent confirmation that despite all the recent successes, the war is still far from over. Assad's supporters are not able to act everywhere - there are not enough forces and specialists. And not only at the front: the "Wagner Group" was used, among other things, to repair equipment.

“There is a huge armored plant in Hama. Before our guys arrived, the Syrians were repairing two tanks a month. When our guys arrived, they immediately began to issue 30 tanks a month. They worked from morning to evening: they were not even allowed into the city, the poor. They worked hard like slaves - in the evening they fell without legs. Ours all left, but these repairmen remained there, "Oleg recalls laughing.

The Wagner Group was withdrawn from Syria at the end of this spring. The last operation of the Russians was the cleaning of the surroundings near the airport near Palmyra. "Among the palm trees and the labyrinth of stone fences," says the mercenary.

Since then, no signs of the participation of Russian condottieri in this war have been recorded. After the liberation of Palmyra, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation held a concert in the ancient amphitheater of the city. They played the music of Prokofiev. It is quite possible that the musicians may show up in this city again. Only it will be "musicians" with machine guns - the ghostly "Wagner group".

Oleg is ready: "Of course, I'll go. At least I'll go to Africa, God. It doesn't matter where, I really like this job."

In the compartment of the Quiet Don branded train, which departed in early November 2017 from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow, they washed a strange-looking medal. In this award, symbols of eras hostile to each other were clearly visible - the Prussian Iron Cross, the Soviet five-pointed star and the White Guard Order of the Ice Campaign. Three men of different ages, approximately 20, 35 and 45 years old, did not fall into drunken courage afterwards; the awards imperceptibly disappeared somewhere so quickly that I did not have time to ask about the origin of the strange medal. However, the path was not short, and little by little, at first from fragments of phrases, then, when common tastes and memories were found, a whole picture began to take shape from frank conversations.

The three men were returning from a six-month business trip to Syria. We went under a contract concluded with the well-known private military company (PMC) "Wagner", although the document, of course, does not contain either this pseudonym call sign or the name of its owner - Dmitry Utkin, who, by the way, in the same November headed Evgeny's restaurant holding Prigozhin, also known as the "Chief Chef of the Kremlin". They flatly refused to give the official name of the organization that hired them, saying only that this name is constantly changing. The legal address is located in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, on Ilyinsky Highway, near the military town of Pavshino. The term of the contract is from three to six months. The contract is signed on the basis of the PMC in Molkino. The future fighter reads a multi-page document, signs, and he remains in the company's office. It is strictly forbidden to communicate with representatives of the media, so in this collective interview they appear as Sergey Ts., Gennady F. and Stepan M. These men were among those who put an end to the long war in the ancient lands of Syria.

On December 6, 2017, the Interfax news agency will officially report, citing the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, that “Syria has been completely liberated from terrorists, all ISIS gangs have been destroyed, more than a thousand settlements have been liberated and the main communications have been released.” But only in these victorious reports not a word is said about the contribution that ordinary soldiers of private military companies made to the victory.

PLACE OF COLLECTION: MOLKINO BASE

The 10th separate special-purpose brigade of the GRU (military unit 51532) is located near the Molkino farm in the Krasnodar Territory. The base of PMC "Wagner" closely adjoins it. Soldiers came here from all over the country. First, they had to pass a medical commission and various admission tests.

There was a medical board, but the selection was rather visual: arms and legs in place - and forward, - says Sergey. - They took everyone in a row, because PMCs suffered heavy losses in Syria. It was also required to run 3 km, wring out 40-50 times (this was rated as “good” and “excellent”). Many did not pass these standards, but were enrolled.

A much more serious test was considered a lie detector. Each candidate passes a polygraph. For example, out of eight people in the group in which Gennady was, only two successfully passed the lie detector, including himself. On what others were cut off, what kind of lie the PMC psychologists were looking for, Gennady still does not imagine. But, in his opinion, this selection definitely did not concern the criminal past of the candidates.

The personnel accepted under the contract were distributed among the "brigades". These were not army brigades in their traditional form, the PMC brigades consisted of only 300 to 400 people, depending on the tasks they faced.

FLIGHT ROSTOV-ON-DON - DAMASK

They departed from Rostov-on-Don International Airport on April 25, 2017, on a regular charter flight. They did not put a visa in the passport, the border guards stamped only the departure mark (and upon return - another arrival mark). The Syrian border service does not appear in the documents at all. In total, one and a half hundred PMC fighters flew in the Boeing, in a day or two the second half of the “brigade” arrived in the same way. They flew to Damascus in civilian clothes, changed clothes already at the Syrian base, that is, in the middle of the desert. They brought military uniforms with them, everyone dressed according to their taste. The desert uniform of the British special forces SAS is considered the most comfortable, the best in strength and color, then comes the uniform of the American special forces. So in appearance, the Russian fighters did not differ from the detachment of the Anglo-Saxon special forces. The Syrian uniform, according to the unanimous opinion of the interlocutors, is of very poor quality.

OIL FIELDS OF ASH-SHAIR

PMC fighters did not pass control at the Damascus airport, they immediately sat on the buses - and forward. Where?

They never tell the rank and file - where, how much to go and what he will do, - says Stepan. - We were brought to the area of ​​the oil fields of Ash-Shair, where we stayed for three months and only after three months did they learn the name of this place. 40 kilometers northwest of Palmyra.

Landed right in the mountain desert. Some did not have tents, in particular Sergei, and for the first month and a half he lived "in the fresh air", although in the mountainous area at that time it was raining and cold. Only later were state-owned tents issued. In total, three brigades of PMCs were assembled in that place, that is, about a thousand people. What did you do?

The mountains guarded, - says Gennady. - On the opposite mountain range sat ISIS spirits. They were bombarded all the time by aircraft. Armored vehicles were transported past us every day - tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, about 60 units in total. Apparently, there was a preparation for the offensive.

At the end of August, the offensive began, and the fighters went through the mountains to the city of Akerbat. They descended into the valley, one by one they took the adjacent villages.

"STORMS" AND STORM OF AKERBAT

The strike force of a PMC brigade in Syria is usually called “assaults” among themselves (with an emphasis on the last syllable). In addition to "assaults", there is also a platoon of heavy weapons, at its disposal are mortars, ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles), heavy machine guns, AGS (automatic grenade launchers). Fire Support Squad. An armored group with an indefinite amount of equipment - from one infantry fighting vehicle to several armored personnel carriers and tanks, whoever is lucky. The combat strength of the brigade is about 200 people, those who have at least some combat experience. The remaining 100-150 are the so-called staff guys, servants, personal drivers of commanders. The brigades are commanded by retired special forces officers (not a single regular officer), there are practically no army officers.

For example, the Syrian chief turned to the commander of our brigade, - says Gennady, and offered several tanks for nothing, since the Arabs did not have crews for them.

The “assault” is the first to go on the attack, followed by a platoon of heavy weapons - mortars, heavy machine guns, anti-tank missiles, etc. The enemy set traps, made it possible to take several suburban villages almost without hindrance, and just before the city of Akerbat, the brigade came across an iron defense, where dozens died. There were specific battles here, for each house. Documents of ISIS members were found (they were handed over to special officers of PMCs), notebooks with prayers in Russian came across, there were many Uzbek names on the lists.

Akerbat was taken only by Russian brigades of PMCs, - says Sergey, the other two nod their heads in agreement. - The Syrians came up at the final stage to film for the TV news. We even hid so as not to get into the frame when the Syrians posed with a heroic air.

OFFICIAL SUMMARY ON THE CAPTURE OF AKERBAT

So, the fighters of the Wagner PMC claim that they captured Akerbat on their own, the Syrian government troops did not take part in the assault. The official version claims exactly the opposite, the role of PMCs is not marked by a single word. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “On September 2, 2017, units of the 4th Panzer Division of the Syrian government forces, in cooperation with units of the 5th Volunteer Assault Corps and detachments of the military Mukhabarat, with the active support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, liberated the strategically important city of Akerbat, where there was “the last major focus Resistance” of terrorists of the IS organization banned in Russia (“Islamic State” is an international terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation).

The government-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta in those days reported the commander of the Russian military group in Syria, Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin, who, in particular, noted that “to support the offensive of the Syrian army in the Akerbat area, Russian aviation launched 329 bombing and missile strikes, as a result which destroyed 27 armored vehicles of militants, 48 ​​pickup trucks with large-caliber weapons installed and more than 1,000 militants. The general also said that ISIS in Akerbat used an unprecedented number of suicide bombers. According to him, “from 15 to 25 militants with martyrs' belts and four to five jihad-mobiles were destroyed daily. But the general kept silent about the fact that this work of destruction was done by the guys from the Wagner PMC.

PERFUME

Almost all ISIS members wear a martyr's belt, - says Stepan. - Such a beautiful thing, neat, light weight. Plastic packaging filled with transparent gel, in which there are many, many metal balls. Because of this, we did not take a single spirit prisoner. One night, the ISIS foolishly stuck in our village. Most, of course, we immediately killed, and a few were driven around the village for some time. One spirit, apparently seriously wounded, called for help for a long time, and then an explosion rumbled. An adjacent wall collapsed from the explosion. It turns out that he was twenty meters away from us. In the morning they cleaned, pits and cellars were thrown with grenades.

The tactics of the spirits are simple: when there is a night skirmish, two or three martyrs get close and explode, - added Gennady. - This happened once or twice a week: an igilovets approached the wall of our shelter and exploded. Quite a few died from such night sorties: eight in one battle, fifteen in another, ten in a third.

All local residents had left the village by that time. In general, they did not encounter civilians, - Sergei assured.

DAIR EZ-ZOR: SYRIAN STALINGRAD

They took Akerbat and the PMC fighters were told: it's time to go home. We were already changing into civilian clothes, and suddenly an order: to the cars in full gear. We drove through the desert for about seven hours, drove three hundred kilometers to the east and found ourselves not far from the city of Deir ez-Zor. There were two Russian brigades of PMCs that had already crossed the Euphrates on pontoons when the operation to unblock Deir ez-Zor was underway. We were given the task of freeing the adjacent island from the ISIS. For about two months they carried out this task, the main losses were suffered in this place, mainly undermined by mines.

The RIA Novosti reports then said: “On September 5, the forward detachments of the Syrian army broke through the three-year blockade of Deir ez-Zor and went on the offensive in the eastern outskirts of the city. Having broken through the encirclement of the air force base, and after knocking out the terrorists from strategic heights in the southwest, government troops reached the western bank of the Euphrates River and crossed it, thereby pushing the terrorist detachments towards the Iraqi border and creating a ring around the residential areas captured by the Islamic State terrorist group. quarters of Deir ez-Zor.

Military expert Viktor Baranets commented on the lifting of the blockade from Deir ez-Zor: “The city of Deir ez-Zor is of strategic importance for the further actions of terrorists in Syria. If it is taken, it will be a strategic defeat for the militants, and it will be about the same for them as in 1945 for Nazi Germany. Deir ez-Zor has the same meaning for ISIS. The defeat in Deir ez-Zor will mean that the terrorists will no longer provide active combat resistance. It will be for them not only a military, but also a moral defeat, and in front of the whole world.

What is the blockade of Deir ez-Zor - this must be understood again in an oriental way, - Sergey said. - All those three years that the blockade lasted, cars with food and consumer goods passed unhindered. Nobody suffered from hunger. They even joked that the Syrians say: we fought here for three years, we fought, the Russians came - and the war began.

And lawlessness began, - Gennady laughed.

In the meantime, according to Sergey, while the spirits held the defense in Ash-Shair, the Kurds sent here by the Americans captured the oil fields. At the end of September, the ISIS retreated in flank directions, and again the Russian PMC brigades had to return to "squeeze out the oil fields."

At the top, apparently, they agreed, and the Kurds moved a little, - says Sergey. - Judging by the inscriptions on the oil rigs, some of them belonged to Europeans, some to Canadians. Canadians have lost the most.

At the end of October, the term of the business trip of the fighters of the Wagner PMC ended. In those days, ISIS cut one of the two main roads connecting the east and west of Syria. They drove along a longer one - about 800 kilometers. There were no adventures.

LOSSES

During the six months of the trip, the casualties of one brigade amounted to about 40 dead (“two hundredths”) and about 100 wounded (“three hundredths”). The other brigade was more “lucky”: their losses amounted to about 20 killed and 70 wounded. And in the third brigade, in the first two weeks alone, they lost about 50 killed. Most died during the lifting of the blockade of Deir ez-Zor. Thus, a tenth of the personnel died, a fifth were wounded.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT

The losses would have been much less, - says Sergey, - if the supply of the PMC group had not been so bad, simply bad. Broken armored cars, lost five trucks in three days, there was nothing even to transport personnel. And the losses from this are high ... and that's it - we got up! Collapse. No one is going anywhere, God forbid to take out the wounded. And experience says that it is high time to transfer fighters to armored vehicles designed for no more than 10 people. Although a year ago the equipment was decent - both weapons and equipment.

It's just a beautiful television picture: tanks are moving in a row across the desert, infantry fighting vehicles are following them, helicopters are circling above them, - says Stepan. - In fact, there was very little technology. Our “armada” moved partly on foot, and partly in KamAZ and Urals. If an ATGM hits a truck, then the losses are, of course, huge. And this saving of our military plushies turned into huge losses. Some of the leaders responsible for the military supply of the brigades, apparently, reported to the top how much was saved. And now, for three brigades, that is, one and a half thousand people, only five night sights were issued!

And what about the spirits? - says Stepan. - For example, 30-40 people usually sit in positions, and so they are given two or three night sights. When the spirits go on a night attack, five “assaults” see them with sin in half, the rest do not see a damn thing. Fathers-commanders say: you shoot at flashes. And for this you need to stick your head out of hiding. And to get into the night sight of an ISIS man, who definitely won’t play the fool, he will immediately shoot - and you won’t have time to notice the flashes. So it turns out: the spirits see everything, and most of the “assaults” are blind. And so the losses are huge.

So how should it be? - says Sergei. - As in special forces: each fighter has a night sight and one of the three has a thermal imaging sight. And so - to slaughter to lead people. But the PMC bosses may have a lot of money, but they are not going to buy new equipment. With my own eyes I saw a unit armed with three-rulers, revolvers, Degtyarev machine guns, even Maxim machine guns really were. And for the first time I had a three-ruler. Bulletproof vests from the time of the capture of Kabul. The tanks are all "prize", that is, captured from the Arabs, some resemble a colander. When he was indignant with his superiors, he heard: “Darling, why are you in a fairy tale? Whatever you give, fight with it."

MILITARY TRAINING

My interlocutors divided the forces that fought on the side of Assad into three categories according to their fighting qualities. The lowest place is occupied by the Syrians, the middle place is occupied by the Fatimids (as the militants from Afghanistan were called in PMCs) and the Palestinians, the top one is by the Russians.

Once a detachment of the Fatimids captured a bridgehead, then redeployed, and government troops took their place, immediately raising their flag, - Sergey said. - And our experienced fighter, who visited Syria five times, predicted: if the Syrian flag appears over the positions in the evening, then the ISIS flag will be here in the morning. We took it as a joke. And in the morning we woke up from a frantic clatter: 300-400 Syrian soldiers fled shouting: “The ISIS tank has arrived!” And indeed: a black banner has already been raised over the positions of government troops.

Russians are unsurpassed fighters, especially in defense, says Stepan. - No one withstood our attacks, no one. For six months, not a single enemy withstood the attacks of the "assaults". Neither in Akerbat nor in the Deir ez-Zor area.

And even the Fatimids are equipped normally, - said Gennady. - I myself saw how they drove “jihads” on their motorcycles across the desert (this is the name of the Igilov pickup truck with weapons; it differs from the “shahidka” - the same car, but stuffed with explosives). They filled up this "jihad" as if there was nothing to do. But is it possible to fight like that with our equipment ?! Our birders go on foot, together with the infantry, there are three of them: one drags the installation, two - one rocket each (each of them weighs 25 kilograms). ISIS also has three pilots, but they are on two motorcycles. On one motorcycle - installation and two people, on the other - the third with two rockets. Shmalnuli - and a minute later disappeared.

I personally saw how the Dukhov ATGM knocked out three vehicles within 10 minutes - an armored personnel carrier and two trucks, - says Sergey.

The level of training of the Syrian troops is not only zero, but, one might say, minus, - Gennady picked up. - For example, out of 60 armored vehicles brought, as already mentioned, to the combat area, about 20 ended up in the hands of the ISIS spirits who were in Akerbat. In general, tanks in Syria are a challenge prize. There is even a joke on this topic: Russia supplies tanks to the Syrians, the Syrians hand them over to ISIS, the Russians come, take the tanks from the ISIS and receive a bonus for this. We hand it over to the Syrians again - and everything starts all over again, the tank circulates around Syria until it is burned.

Personally, I saw how the Syrian special forces went into reconnaissance, Sergei recalls. - We walked about seven kilometers and began to yell on the radio that they had run out of water, several people were hit (and these are the indigenous people of Syria). And they returned without completing the task. The Russians even had to bear the sun-struck Arabs on their backs. I agree with Gennady: zero level of preparation.

All of Syria is about two Moscow regions, most of it is desert, concludes Stepan. - Enough to free a few enclaves and the valley - and that's it! And let the spirits of the steppe hares ride through the desert as much as they like. Work - for a month or two, but no one needs it. Generals earn money in the war, tanks and weapons are decommissioned, ISIS trades with everyone almost officially.

PERSONNEL OF PMC "WAGNER"

Despite the fact that many PMC fighters served in the army and special forces, I will not be mistaken if I say that 90% do not understand where they are going, - says Sergey. - The desire to earn money knocks off the brain completely. Therefore, having got into a real trouble, they declare that they came here not to die, but to earn. These are called "five hundred", that is, deserters and refuseniks. They are immediately sent to rigging teams, that is, to loaders of shells, etc.

And in life, those who came to Syria are mostly losers, - says Gennady. - As a rule, former cops, convicts and military men. About 40% of the personnel served time for serious crimes - murders, robberies, etc. PMC fighters even greet each other like this: “Hi, losers!” It is noticeable that for many months before a business trip, or even years, they thumped without drying out. In Syria, it is forbidden to drink, the heads are a little enlightened, they give a vow to tie for the rest of their lives. They return to Russia with a million in their pockets and break into such a peak, a month later they crawl to the base without pants.

EARNINGS OF THE "GENTLEMEN OF LUCK"

A year or two ago, according to Sergey, the fighters of the PMC "Wagner" earned 310-350 thousand rubles a month (240 thousand - salary plus 3 thousand a day - combat). In the spring of this year, they had 300 thousand each (with a salary of 220 thousand), and those who arrived in the fall earned an average of 200-210 thousand (the salary dropped to 150 thousand).

What is causing the drop in earnings? Stepan asked. - I think with the fact that they steal everything, they steal everything. At some point, people lose their heads and begin to steal without a twinge of conscience. We suspect that the top pays are still decent, but a little lower they come up with various restrictions that are associated with the salary. For example, there is a clause in the contract that says that a business trip starting from the fourth month is considered a long one and an additional thousand rubles are paid for each day. When someone reminded the boss about this point, he received the following answer in a greatly softened form: “Are you crazy? You get so much already!”

What about insurance? - I ask. - How much is paid in case of death?

You see, - says Sergey, - according to some rumors, three and a half million, according to others - five million. Personally, I did not see anything about this in my contract. Although I could have looked: the contract is multi-page, and besides, the principle of time trouble works. It says that you agree that you may not be taken out as a corpse. Also, according to rumors, 50 thousand are paid for a minor injury, up to 300 thousand plus treatment for a more severe one. They say that the treatment is good - in the military hospitals of Rostov-on-Don, Kislovodsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc. Good conditions, highly qualified doctors. But there is one principle: no disabilities.

I am ambivalent about these private military companies,” adds Stepan. - On the one hand, they deceive, and it's a shame. And on the other hand, if you look at the situation as if from the outside, the PMC removes unnecessary elements from civilian life (literally, the fighter spoke about his comrades, and therefore about himself. - A.Ch.).

As it turned out later, Sergey brought one and a half million rubles from Syria. I gave out debts, bought a night sight, binoculars, warm clothes, and other equipment for little things. I was running out of money, just to get from Moscow to Krasnodar.

What kind of work is left in Syria? Protect oil fields, factories. Throwing attacks will no longer be.

Correspondent On the eve.RU managed to find a man who served in one of the most secret military units in Russia - the private military company "Wagner". The major defeat and death of the fifth company of PMCs on the banks of the Euphrates near the city of Hisham in Syria forced Russian mercenaries to speak out loud about betraying people for the sake of the interests and ambitions of the command and investors, and politicians - about the legalization of PMCs and the urgent adoption of a corresponding law. Who are they, the "soldiers of fortune" of the 21st century, what are these people ready for? Do they do it for the money or are they driven by something else, read in our exclusive interview.

Our hero agrees to talk to us not immediately, asks for time to "think", but still gives the go-ahead for a dialogue through one of the Internet messengers and on the condition that we keep his name and details of his biography incognito. It is understandable: the terms of the contract imply deathly silence even after dismissal from the unit. The only thing that can be added to the portrait is that our interlocutor, before a business trip to Syria, had previously gone through the war in the Donbass as a volunteer, however, like many of those who today serve with Wagner.

Tell me how people get into the Wagner group. Who are these "soldiers of fortune" anyway?

It was quite difficult to get into the Wagner group up to a certain point. In 2017, the selection conditions were softened, and people with combat experience and those who went through a hot spot in the Donbass began to be recruited. It was enough to pass the standards - running 3 km in 12.5 minutes and 15-20 pull-ups. In addition, a drug test is required (with a positive result, the person was denied a device). And a security check. Only then the long-awaited device.

Money. For how much can a person risk his life in the desert on someone else's, in fact, war?

With regards to money, the answer is very simple - this is an amount from 150 to 240 thousand rubles. per month depending on position. Plus, we were also paid bonuses from 30% to 100% of the salary, depending on the combat missions performed. But most often with bonuses there was a scam. We didn't see them. That's what guys are risking.

There are rumors that, despite all the promotion of PMCs, the weapons, to put it mildly, are not very good in the group.

Yes that's right. The armament was motley: from old DR-46 machine guns to Mosin rifles and ending with quite normal weapons - PKM machine guns, AK-74 Kalashnikov assault rifles. From time to time, such exotics as AS "Val", PKP "Pecheneg" were also encountered. The snipers had more modern weapons: "Steyr Mannlicher" are Austrian sniper rifles.

But, basically, the predominance of old Soviet weapons, which, however, are not inferior to modern ones in terms of reliability.

From the stories of the old employees of the Wagner group, when they participated in the hostilities in Ukraine, everything was fine with weapons. All were armed with new weapons. Even during the first trips to Syria in the fall of 2015, the tank company of the Wagner group had T-90 and T-72B3 tanks on its account.

After the first trip, it all disappeared without a trace. And the quality of weapons began to deteriorate. KORD machine guns were replaced by DShKs, T-72 and T-90 tanks were suddenly replaced by T-62 tanks. D-30 artillery guns were diluted with old Soviet M-30s. Etc.

What are the tasks for the personnel?

The tasks for the Wagner group as a whole were very diverse. From assault operations and frontal attacks, and to the defense of strongholds, when there were small lulls on the front line.

How do you interact with the Syrian units? Their attitude towards PMCs from Russia?

Interaction with the Syrian troops was almost minimal, their units in those situations that I know about were mostly on the hook. Most of the Syrian troops turned back after hearing the first explosions and shots. I also note that, judging by my experience, all the work for the Syrian army was done by: Wagner, ISIS hunters * (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) - ISIS-hunters, Iranian Hezbollah special forces, and in some places units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard "were, and some units of the Syrian army can be noted (which can be counted on the fingers). And all this was supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, and plus the Special Operations Forces of the MTR were also working ... The Syrian army was more than incompetent.

PMC commanders with Vladimir Putin

By the way, who are ISIS-hunters and how are they connected with PMCs?

The ISIS* hunters are not affiliated with PMCs, I know that they were trained by Wagner instructors as a unit for cleaning up and identifying persons who were associated with ISIS*.

Gen. How is food organized? What are the difficulties in everyday life?

What were the difficulties in everyday life? And it happened, there was not enough water, it happened, every drop counted: only 4.5 liters per day, given that you were in the desert. After the battles near Deir ez-Zor, the norm was increased to 9 liters. Meals were in the form of army dry rations (quite fresh at that). And when there was not enough, they could go to the store to buy. Buy potatoes, watermelon and all those delights that were missing on the front line. For "cigarette expenses", by the way, each was allocated $150 a month - that's about 80,000 liras in local money.

Why did you go there? What prompted you?

Why did I go there? It's simple: make money and improve your financial situation. Which is what I did. From the pros - I bought what I wanted, from the minuses - I spoiled my health a little. Now there is a concussion.

How did they get there?

All flights were regular charters.

Was it scary there? What is the nature of hostilities between Syria and Donbass?

Yes, of course, it's scary ... only fools and psychos are not afraid.

The first two weeks the roof went. Then I got used to it and began to read books in between fights, which the guys had, it became easier.

If we compare the war in Ukraine and in Syria, then these two conflicts cannot be compared. In the event of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, it will be a combined arms battle using tanks, artillery and, possibly, aviation (by the Armed Forces of Ukraine). In Syria, one can practically talk about the same thing, but on a reduced scale, except that ISIS * did not have aviation, artillery in sufficient quantities, and there were no armored vehicles either. However, it was replaced by "jihad-mobiles" with a variety of weapons. And the climatic conditions are incomparable.

Don't you think that you are "cannon fodder" there?

This thought sometimes comes to mind that we were cannon fodder there, because every attack on the enemy in the forehead turned into losses, every third fighter was a load of "200" (killed - ed.) and "300" (wounded, - ed.).

Such a big loss?

The losses are heavy, given the recent disaster with the "5th" (the same 5th Wagner company, which was defeated on February 7, 2018 from the strike of the coalition forces led by the United States - ed.).

What do you think about "5"?

What I think... I think if you followed all the news, it would become clear that the goal was to "squeeze" oil refineries and oil fields from the Kurds. So they were destroyed because of the ambitions of the command and investors who planned to start extracting oil there.

It's a pity guys. You won't get them back. My friends were there too...

Why didn't Russia cover up the guys? And could she?

Why weren't ours covered? Everything is quite simple here: the Wagner group is not part of the RF Armed Forces, but the RF Ministry of Defense, as far as I can tell, is subordinate. It's easier for us to disown the guys than to intercede. The phenomenon of "IHTAMNET" on the face. And they are.

Tell me about a memorable fight.

Sorry, of course, I will not say anything about combat. Where he participated, in which detachment he was, all this will remain under a veil of secrecy. I don't want problems. I can only say one thing, "Wagner" is cannon fodder, and losses are not particularly considered there when performing tasks.

What are the guarantees that you will not be tried in Russia for mercenarism?

There are no guarantees that all former employees of the "Wagner Group" will not be imprisoned for mercenarism. But for now, I live in peace.

What are the terms of the contract?

The terms of the contract were written separately. As mentioned above, the salary amount is 240 thousand rubles. per month. Plus, in the event of death, compensation in the amount of 5 million rubles was paid. relatives.

By the way, how many of you were in Syria?

In general, there are 1,800 fighters in the state, and there are also "catalogues" - these are attendants in the form of cooks, loaders, and so on. They get much less, but they also take risks, respectively. But, you see, a salary of 100 thousand rubles. For a chef, it's very good.

Why did you quit? Don't you want to come back?

There are many reasons for dismissal, but I won’t talk about the main ones. After recent events, the desire to return there has repulsed. There are no guarantees that such a catastrophe, which happened to the "five", will not happen again.

Hot heads, those who want to go to fight there, what do you say?

And to hotheads I will say one thing: this is your life and your choice. Nobody is forcing you to go there. If you have chosen - then go, if you earn money and return home safe - good. If you die, rest in peace to you. Nobody will judge you for this. Simple and subjective.

After the main part of the interview, our hero will add a few more nuances. In particular, he does not have photographs from the Syrian "sands" as a keepsake, since before sending the command seized all phones and gadgets with cameras and people were there without communication. "If you get caught with a phone, you get fined for the entire month's salary, so your best gadgets are a compass and a wristwatch"- said our counterpart.

*ISIS is a terrorist organization banned in Russia

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Interviewed by Alexander the Syrian

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