During two campaigns in 2015-2017, PMCs lost up to a hundred killed and more than three hundred wounded soldiers in Syria.

The personnel documentation of the informal military unit "Wagner Group" was at the disposal of the Fontanka editors. Our story is about who dies and for what in the Syrian Republic, not getting into the official statistics of the Ministry of Defense, and about why the words of the generals are slyness. And also about how the private war has changed after Syria signed a document with the Russian Euro Polis LLC.

PMC Wagner is an informal military organization that took part in the fighting in the Donbass (on the side of Novorossiya) and in Syria (on the side of the Assad government). For the first time, Fontanka spoke about the activities of this PMC in the fall of 2015. The employees of PMC Wagner are not related to any official power structure of the Russian Federation, however, they received military orders and medals for their combat work.

Whom the Ministry of Defense despises

It is officially recognized that 39 Russian servicemen were killed during the operation in Syria. The Ministry of Defense should not include the killed and wounded fighters of the Wagner group in its statistics, considering these losses as "a myth about some dead "contract soldiers" from a "mysterious" organization." The Reuters publication, according to which Russia lost 36 people in Syria in 2016, and approximately 40 in seven months of 2017, was considered by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, to be “mockery”, worthy of contempt: “Again, some rumors are used as sources , social media data and fictitious conversations with allegedly "intimidated" anonymous "relatives and acquaintances" ”(quote from RIA Novosti).

If “data from social networks and conversations” is not enough, documents and photographs must be provided. The content of the documents at the disposal of the editors confirms the assumption that since the end of 2015, a private battalion has been operating in Syria in the interests of the structures of businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, and its fighters are being trained on the territory of the military unit of the Ministry of Defense in the Krasnodar Territory.

Unaccounted losses of Palmyra

Wagner's fighting in Syria can be roughly divided into two campaigns.

The first began in September 2015, when the companies arrived in Syria. Until the beginning of 2016, the units did not conduct large-scale actions. Serious battles and losses began in February - March, during the operation to liberate Palmyra. In April - May 2016, according to our data, the main combat units of the group, having handed over heavy weapons and equipment, were withdrawn from Syria to Russia.

According to the lists, which we believe were compiled by the administration of the Wagner group, approximately 32 private fighters died during this campaign. About 80 fighters were seriously injured, requiring long-term inpatient treatment in hospitals. The approximation in our calculations is explained by the fact that not in all cases it was possible to establish the fate of the wounded who were in critical condition.

The second campaign started in early 2017. The documents available to Fontanka date back to June 2017. The main activity is Palmyra and the adjacent oil fields. Fontanka does not have such accurate evidence as for the period 2015-2016. Based on the analysis of available documents and the words of eyewitnesses, one can speak of losses ranging from 40 to 60 killed and two to three times as many wounded. We were also able to document the affiliation to the Wagner group of several fighters whose deaths in Syria were reported by Fontanka, RBC and the Conflict Intelligence Team in 2017.

In between the two operations in Syria, there were support units, as well as groups of specialists who participated in local skirmishes. During this period, mountainous Latakia, the oil fields of Shaer and Aleppo are mentioned.

The documents that fell into our hands - self-filled application forms, copies of passports from "personal files", photographs of candidates taken in the "security service" - allow us to confidently speak about the belonging of the fighters to the structure known as "Wagner PMC" and which in the documents is referred to as the "Wagner Group", "Battalion Tactical Group" Wagner "or simply" the company ".

The fact of the death of a fighter is more difficult to establish, but in most cases we succeeded. Comments of officials, reports in the media, especially in those media that can not be attributed to the opposition, photographs of burial places, messages from grieving relatives on social networks and condolences from friends, in our opinion, are sufficient confirmation.

The most difficult question is to confirm the place of death. Fontanka believes that in at least ten to fifteen cases it was able to convincingly prove this.

For example, in March 2016, photographs appeared on the Internet resources of the Islamic State (banned in Russia), which were allegedly taken from dead Russians who fought on the side of Assad. Among them are several photos of a fair-haired guy with a memorable face in Syrian landscapes. On video frames - the mutilated body of the same person.

"Fontanka" established the name of the deceased. This is Ivan Vladimirovich Sumkin, born in 1987. Callsign "Varyag", Wagner's reconnaissance company. He is from a village in the Orenburg region. He served in the motorized rifle troops, then worked as an electric welder. In the spring of 2015 he came to Wagner. March 16, 2016 died. Where the grave of Ivan Sumkin is located, and whether he was buried at all, is unknown - according to Fontanka, his body was not removed from the battlefield. Ivan is survived by his wife and two-year-old son.

A video about the awarding of the Order of Courage to Alexander Karchenkov appeared on Channel 9 of Stary Oskol on November 3, 2016. It was reported that on September 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the posthumous awarding of Starooskol Karchenkov, who died during the liberation of Palmyra in the spring of 2016. The order was presented to the widow and mother of Karchenkov by the head of the district.

Lyudmila Karchenkova said that her husband went to Syria to serve under a contract in January 2016, and in March it was reported that he died "during the mission."

Alexander Karchenkov is not in the official lists of the dead published by the Ministry of Defense, which General Konashenkov suggests that the press be guided by. And of course, a 45-year-old unemployed, reserve foreman, could not be a secret officer of the Special Operations Forces.

As follows from the documents of the Wagner company, Karchenkov got a job there in December 2015, was part of a material support company and died on March 13, 2016. Indeed, near Palmyra. As evidence, there is a photograph of Karchenkov taken when signing up for service at the Wagner base in Molkino, a self-filled questionnaire, an agreement and a non-disclosure agreement.

There are more than forty similar stories with only well-known surnames. Syrian martyrology "Fontanka" - these are documents, photographs, awards of "Wagnerites". Each, when applying for a “job”, filled out a questionnaire, each was photographed and checked on a polygraph. These documents were made available to readers for the first time. We publish the stories of men who went to fight for 240 thousand rubles a month and found their death in the Syrian desert. Someone pointed out “patriotism” or “changes in the geopolitical position of Russia” as the reason for admission. The majority referred to loans and a desire to improve their financial situation.

Two Russian citizens who did not return from Syria were not included in this list. Fighters with the call signs "Altai" and "Bertolet" (their full details are known to the editors) are considered missing. They disappeared on the same day that Ivan Sumkin died, whose body was left on the battlefield.

The chances that Altai and Bertolet are alive and in captivity are minimal, but there is such a possibility, and Fontanka refrains from publishing their names and photos.

How Wagner got lost in Molkino

Fontanka, RBC, Wall Street Journal and Zeit wrote about the fact that personnel formation and training of the Wagner group take place on the territory of a military base in the village of Molkino, Krasnodar Territory, in the same place where the 10th separate brigade of the GRU Special Forces of the Ministry of Defense is deployed. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of evidence on social networks that in order to join the PMC, one must go to Molkino and head straight to the checkpoint with a question about Wagner. But for the Ministry of Defense this is not an argument, because it is regarded as rumors and slander.

Having studied the photographs of the Wagner security service taken during the check of the candidates being hired, Fontanka believes that these photos convincingly prove that an armed structure, not provided for by any Russian law, is located precisely on the territory of the Molkino training ground. In the Fontanka investigation, you can see how the delinquent "Wagnerites" are treated and even see the head of the mysterious "company's security service."

Tramp, Gray-haired, Wagner and Ratibor surrounded the President

The commanders of the "mysterious organization" do not hide their faces. In December 2016, the commander of the group Dmitry Utkin and his deputy Andrey Troshev appeared on the footage of the protocol shooting of the Heroes of the Fatherland ceremony in the Kremlin. In January 2017, a photograph was found on the Web, apparently from the same reception, where Utkin and Troshev, as well as two other men with high awards, were captured together with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fontanka found out who these mysterious cavaliers are next to the president. Their names are Tramp and Ratibor, in the world - Andrey Bogatov and Alexander Kuznetsov. One of them just before the Ukrainian events was released from the colony, where he was serving a term for kidnapping and robbery. The other did not have violations worse than illegal parking.

Palmyra-2016 and Palmyra-2017

The Kremlin reception of December 2016 is the highest point of Wagner's takeoff. Then something went wrong. The fighting in Syria in 2016 and 2017, as veterans of both campaigns told Fontanka, are fundamentally different.

In 2015-2016, according to participants in the events, training in Molkino took up to two months, ammunition was allocated for study in unlimited quantities, including expensive rounds for anti-tank missile systems. In Syria, the group received T-72 tanks, BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket systems, and D-30 122-mm howitzers. The states of the spring 2016 model provided for 2349 personnel, including four reconnaissance and assault companies, a group headquarters, a tank company, a combined artillery group, reconnaissance and support units. There were 1,500-2,000 fighters on a Syrian mission at the same time. Combat salaries and bonuses were paid on time, orders were not stinted.

At the end of that spring of 2016, the first misunderstanding came. The fact that, according to the initial agreement, five commanders of the Wagner group were presented to the title of Hero of Russia, Fontanka was informed by several informed interlocutors. Two passed through the filter of the awards department.

Before the withdrawal from Syria in April-May 2016, heavy weapons and military equipment were handed over. Most of the personnel was sent to the reserve - to sit at home and wait for a call on a business trip. When at the end of 2016 they began to assemble a team for a new expedition to the oil fields, it turned out that everything had changed.

Now, there are allegedly practically no weapons left at the Wagner base in Molkino, with the exception of a few machine guns, mostly at the guards.

Training is reduced to control firing, heavy infantry weapons crews (heavy machine guns, automatic mounted grenade launchers, mounted anti-tank grenade launchers) do not conduct practical firing from "regular" weapons.

Upon arrival in Syria at the beginning of 2017, according to the stories of those who returned, 20 rounds of ammunition were issued to the machine gun for zeroing weapons and four magazines and 120 rounds of ammunition as ammunition. Armament consisted of North Korean-made AK-47 assault rifles received from the Syrian side and several Kalashnikov PK and RPK machine guns. The second company got 1946 RP-46 company machine guns. In the Soviet army, these weapons in the troops were replaced by PCs and RPKs back in the 60s of the last century.

A couple of weeks later, several SVD sniper rifles and one or two AGS-17s entered service, which did not fundamentally solve the problem.

Instead of the T-72 tanks handed over in the spring of 2016, four or five T-62s were received. Instead of D-30 howitzers - about a dozen M-30 howitzers of the 1938 model, long removed from service in the Soviet army.

Fontanka does not have exact data on losses in the battles of January - May 2017. Based on fragmentary and undocumented stories, we can talk about 40-60 dead and three times the number of wounded. Seven Wagner fighters who died in 2017 are known by name, and all of them, apparently, did not return from Syria, since the group’s activities in the Donbass have been curtailed.

The number of losses exceeding the losses of 2016 at times, according to the participants in the events, is explained not only by the lack of weapons and military equipment, but also by the significantly reduced quality of personnel.

In 2017, the salary policy of the Wagner company changed. Now only a fighter of a reconnaissance and assault company involved in combat operations receives 240 thousand per month. The security of the Hayat plant, gunners, operators of unmanned aerial vehicles, and support units receive about 160,000 rubles a month. Unlike in previous years, there are delays.

They try to compensate for the decrease in quality with quantity. Two additional reconnaissance and assault companies have been deployed. Thus, the number of companies has been increased to six, and the number of infantry personnel in the group - to about 2 thousand people. Today, four companies are working in Syria, two companies have been temporarily sent to the reserve.

"Spring" in Syria

An additional source of recruitment for Wagner is the population of Donbass. Until 2017, citizens of Ukraine (or the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics) were not accepted to Wagner. The exception was the group "Karpaty", formed mainly from ethnic Ukrainians. The composition of this group was planned to be used for sabotage and deep reconnaissance in the rear of the Ukrainian troops, but, as they say, due to the poor training of personnel, these plans failed.

In 2017, the group was deployed to the Vesna unit (by call sign of the commander), its strength was increased to 100-150 people. In addition to Ukrainians, the group included residents of the Cossack regions of Russia and fifteen or twenty natives of Chechnya.

Oil, gas, Euro Polis

As of August 2017, according to Fontanka, the work of Wagner units in Syria is to protect and defend oil-bearing regions with the main object - the Khayan plant. If possible, advance and capture territory.

The main base is located on the tank track about 80 kilometers from Homs and 40 kilometers from the Hayan plant. In addition to Wagner, Hezbollah detachments, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and similar units are based at the Tankodrome, including the showcase Syrian ISIS Hunters, the heroes of pretentious pr-videos. They are promised 500 US dollars for twenty days of a military operation, but the Syrians, judging by the stories of the Wagnerites, do not agree to fight on such conditions and often, having received military training, go into the armed opposition or into the very ISIS banned in Russia, for which they were supposed to hunt.

Fontanka has already talked about the agreements reached between Syrian government organizations and the Russian Euro Polis LLC, behind which are people from the structures of billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin. LLC "Euro Polis" undertook to liberate and protect oil fields and factories for reimbursement of the costs of hostilities plus a quarter of the oil and gas produced. That is, to do exactly what the Wagner group is doing today (we talked about the probable connections of which with Yevgeny Prigozhin during the time of the “first Palmyra”). They say that now blue jackets with a white inscription "Euro Polis" are issued to all Wagner employees who depart on a Syrian business trip.

Judging by our information, since 2017, the financing of the Wagner campaign, its supply of weapons, equipment and ammunition has been carried out at the expense of the Syrian side and is accompanied by constant delays in payments and disputes over their amount.

Why did Sergey Kuzhugetovich quarrel with Evgeny Viktorovich

In 2016, the Wagner group clearly did not experience such problems. Now it has become bad not only with the supply: as eyewitnesses told Fontanka, interaction with army aviation and artillery (which was allegedly commonplace in 2016) has been reduced to almost zero, helicopters of the Russian group do not take part in the evacuation of the wounded of the Wagner battalion, which is significantly complicates their delivery to medical facilities. Military transport aviation allegedly no longer transports wounded Wagnerites, and they have to be taken out almost in the cargo compartments of charter flights of a Syrian airline flying to Rostov.

The reasons for the onset of cooling, according to Fontanka's sources, may be different.

Perhaps the conflict is caused by weak conspiracy in the activities of the quasi-military organization. If the army men were ready to tolerate an incomprehensible private structure on their territory, supply it with weapons, equipment and support it with fire as long as it remained a secret, then since the appearance of numerous information about Wagner and his team on the Web, the situation has changed. It is unlikely that the military command wants to bear responsibility for the actions of a detachment that is not bound by any formal laws and operates outside the boundaries of law. It is impossible not to note the coincidence: the time of the urgent withdrawal of Wagner from Syria with the actual disarmament and the suspension of recruitment and the time of the publication of Fontanka about Dmitry Utkin and his team.

According to one version, the reason was not at all serious for statesmen: a dispute about the number and dignity of awards. Fontanka has reason to believe that the reason for the cooling is much more significant.

Investigations by Fontanka, RBC, Novaya Gazeta, other media, and the Alexei Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation convincingly showed Yevgeny Prigozhin’s almost monopoly position in government procurement of the Ministry of Defense and subordinated military structures. Legal entities associated with Prigozhin receive the lion's share of orders for the construction and maintenance of military camps, cleaning, occupy almost the entire military food market.

Judging by open information on the website of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office, numerous claims and proceedings on cases of administrative offenses in arbitration courts and in courts of general jurisdiction, since 2016, a wave of claims has been growing against companies associated with the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Concord holding. Companies and officials are brought to administrative responsibility for violating license requirements and for non-compliance with labor law, army control authorities, after checking military canteens, identify and document cockroaches, products with traces of mold and decay, after which they resort to penalties. Military prosecutors fix the construction work without the relevant documents, permits, projects and react - within the limits of their authority.

At the same time, a situation has arisen where the same military supply system, for example, is completely closed to the Concorde structures, and its restructuring promises many problems. The situation is similar with the maintenance and construction of military camps. Apparently, the military department can no longer refuse the services of a monopolist, although the leadership of the Ministry of Defense is unlikely to be happy with this state of affairs.

Games with their own private army, when possible profits go to a corporation, and all the bumps fall on the military, who are responsible for the operation in Syria, could overflow the cup of patience.

Another issue is the level at which the decision is made about the use (and the very existence) of a private battalion. And whose word weighs more at that level: the Minister of Defense or the owner of the Russian Kitsch restaurant.

PMCs all over the world are a huge business: “private traders” often replace the armed forces. In Russia they are illegal. But in Syria, a prototype of Russian PMCs, the Wagner group, was tested, and the authorities are again thinking about legalizing

The military unit on the Molkino farm in the Krasnodar Territory is a sensitive facility. The 10th separate special forces brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Ministry of Defense is stationed here, Gazeta.Ru wrote. A few tens of meters from the federal highway "Don" - the first checkpoint on the way to the base. Further, the road forks: to the left - the town belonging to the unit, to the right - the training ground, the guard at the checkpoint explains to the RBC journalist. Behind the landfill is another checkpoint with guards armed with AK-74s. Behind this checkpoint is a camp of a private military company (PMC), according to one of the employees of the military unit.

Archival satellite images from the Google Earth service show that in August 2014 there was no camp yet. It began to function around the middle of 2015, two interlocutors of RBC who worked in this camp and are familiar with its device say. These are two dozen tents under the flag of the USSR, surrounded by a small fence with barbed wire, one of them describes the base. On the territory there are several residential barracks, a sentry tower, a dog handler's station, a training complex and a parking lot for vehicles, an employee of a private military company who has been there describes the base.

This structure has no official name, the name of its leader and revenue are not disclosed, and the very existence of the company, possibly the largest on the market, is not advertised: formally, the activities of PMCs in our country are illegal. RBC magazine figured out what the so-called Wagner PMC is, from what sources and how it is financed, and why the business of private military companies may appear in Russia.

Mercenaries and "private traders"

A military person, according to Russian laws, can only work for the state. Mercenary activity is prohibited: for participation in armed conflicts on the territory of another country, the Criminal Code provides for up to seven years in prison (Article 359), for recruiting, training, financing a mercenary, “as well as its use in an armed conflict or hostilities” - up to 15 years . There are no other laws regulating the sphere of PMCs in Russia.

The situation is different in the world: the principles of operation of private military and security companies are fixed in the “Montreux Document” adopted in the fall of 2008. It was signed by 17 countries, including the US, UK, China, France and Germany (Russia is not among them). The document allows people who are not in the public service to provide services for the armed protection of facilities, maintenance of combat complexes, training of military personnel, and so on.

For private investors, financing PMCs is a way to prove their loyalty, explains the interlocutor in the Ministry of Defense, for example, for closer cooperation with the military department. RBC magazine found no evidence that Prigozhin's firms provided financial support to PMCs. At the same time, if in 2014 the volume of services provided by companies related to the businessman to the Ministry of Defense and its structures amounted to 575 million rubles, then in 2015 the volume of such contracts reached 68.6 billion rubles, follows from the SPARK-Marketing data.

These contracts make up the lion's share of all government contracts that 14 companies received (the connection of most of these firms with Prigogine can be traced through SPARK-Interfax; the rest of the structures are managed by those who worked with the restaurateur at different times, Fontanka wrote). In 2015, the total volume of tenders they won amounted to 72.2 billion rubles.

Hybrid financing

The cost of maintaining PMCs numbering several thousand people is quite difficult to calculate. The Wagner group does not pay for the rent of buildings and the site, two RBC interlocutors who are familiar with the camp's construction say. The state and private divisions of the camp in the Krasnodar Territory are located, according to Rosreestr, on a single plot of about 250 square meters. km. There is no information about who owns the land in the database, but several neighboring plots are registered with the territorial forestry department of the Ministry of Defense.

The military department is engaged in the equipment of the range. As follows from the documents on the public procurement portal, in the spring of 2015, the Ministry of Defense held a corresponding auction in the amount of 294 million rubles, the winner was Garrison JSC, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Defense. The base in Molkino was also re-equipped: 41.7 million rubles were spent on the landfill.

The maintenance of the base itself, as well as other military units, is also on the balance sheet of the ministry of Sergei Shoigu. Tenders for garbage collection and linen transportation, sanitary services, territory cleaning, heat supply are carried out in packages for several tens or hundreds of military units at once, grouped on a territorial basis. On average, in 2015-2016, the military department spent 14.7 million rubles per military unit. excluding classified contracts, follows from the procurement documentation of six auctions, which mentions a base in the Krasnodar Territory.

In 2015-2016, the Ministry of Defense allocated an average of about 410 thousand rubles for the removal of waste from one part of the Southern Military District: the Megaline company became the winner of the tender. Until the end of 2015, the co-owners of the company were Concord Management and Consulting and Lakhta, which each owned 50%. Until mid-2011, Evgeny Prigozhin was in the first company, and until September 2013 he already controlled 80% of Lakhta.

In 2015-2016, sanitary services for one military unit of the district cost an average of 1.9 million rubles, technical operation of heat supply facilities - 1.6 million rubles. The winners of tenders for these services were Ecobalt and Teplosintez, respectively (the latter, according to Fontanka, is managed by Megaline employees). The most costly item of expenditure for the maintenance of the camp is cleaning. In 2015, the Ministry of Defense allocated an average of 10.8 million rubles for cleaning one part of the Southern District. Contracts for cleaning in Molkino were concluded with the firm "Agat" (the company is registered in Lyubertsy, the connection with Prigozhin and his entourage could not be traced).

Unlike base maintenance, contracts for the supply of food to units are not posted on the public procurement portal - this information falls under military secrets, since it allows you to determine the number of fighters. In July, an announcement appeared on the Avito.ru website hiring workers for a military canteen in Molkino. The employer is the company "Restaurantservice Plus". A similar vacancy was posted on one of the Krasnodar portals back in May. On the phone number indicated in one of the ads, an RBC correspondent was answered by someone named Alexei, who confirmed that RestaurantService Plus was looking for workers in the canteen of the military unit. The phone number of this company matches the numbers of two firms associated with Prigozhin, Megaline and Concord Management and Consulting.

Whether the Krasnodar PMC camp is provided from the same state orders as the GRU camp at the same base is not clear. The interlocutor of RBC, who is familiar with the structure of the unit, claims that the camps are similar in number and size, so the average cost of maintenance is also applicable to the base of the Wagner group. Most of all, at auctions that mention the military unit in Molkino, firms related to Prigozhin, Megaline and Teplosintez, could earn money: these companies signed state contracts for 1.9 billion rubles in 2015-2016, follows from purchasing documentation.

When asked if the restaurateur's companies were connected with the financing of the Wagner group, a high-ranking federal official only smiled and replied: "You must understand that Prigozhin feeds very tasty food." Restaurantservice Plus, Ecobalt, Megaline, Teplosintez, Agat and Concord Management did not respond to RBC's request.

Issue price

If contracts for the maintenance of the base go through electronic platforms, then it is almost impossible to trace the salary costs of PMC fighters: the salary is paid mainly in cash, the fighters from the Wagner group say. Part of the money is transferred to instant issuance cards, which do not indicate the name of the owner, and they themselves are issued to outside individuals, one fighter clarifies and an officer of the Ministry of Defense confirms. Nameless cards are issued by a number of Russian banks, including Sberbank and Raiffeisenbank, according to their official websites.

Talking about salaries, RBC's interlocutors cite similar figures. According to a driver working at a base in the Krasnodar Territory, civilians receive about 60,000 rubles. per month. An RBC source familiar with the details of the military operation indicates that a PMC fighter can count on 80,000 rubles. monthly, being based in Russia, and up to 500 thousand rubles. plus a premium in the combat zone in Syria. The salary of a PMC employee in Syria rarely exceeded 250-300 thousand rubles. per month, an officer of the Ministry of Defense clarifies in a conversation with RBC. With a minimum threshold of 80 thousand rubles. he agrees,
and estimates the average salary for an ordinary soldier at 150 thousand rubles. plus combat and compensation.,> With the maximum number of the Wagner group of 2.5 thousand people, their salary from August 2015 to August 2016 could range from 2.4 billion (with 80 thousand rubles per month) to 7.5 billion rub. (with monthly payments of 250 thousand rubles).

The cost of equipment for each fighter can reach up to $ 1,000, travel and accommodation will cost the same amount per month, according to Chikin from MSG. Thus, the cost of the presence of 2.5 thousand people in Syria, excluding salaries, can reach $2.5 million per month, or about 170 million rubles. (with an average annual dollar exchange rate of 67.89 rubles, according to the Central Bank).

The maximum spending on food during the Syrian campaign could be 800 rubles. per person per day, estimated Alexander Tsyganok, head of the Center for Military Forecasting of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis. From this estimate it follows that food for 2.5 thousand fighters could cost up to 2 million rubles.

It is PMCs who bear the main losses on the Russian side in Syria, RBC interlocutors who are familiar with the details of the operation say. Their data on the number of deaths vary. An employee of the Ministry of Defense insists that a total of 27 “private traders” died in the Middle East, one of the former PMC officers says at least a hundred deaths. “From there, every third is “two hundredth”, every second is “three hundredth,” says an employee of the base in Molkino (“cargo-200” and “cargo-300” are symbols for transporting the body of a dead and wounded soldier, respectively).

RBC contacted the family of one of the dead PMC fighters, but the relatives refused to communicate. Later, several records appeared on the social networks of his relatives and friends, in which the actions of RBC correspondents were called a “provocation” and an attempt to tarnish the memory of the murdered. An officer from the Wagner group claims that the non-disclosure of working conditions in PMCs is a condition for families to receive compensation.

The standard compensation for the relatives of a dead soldier is up to 5 million rubles, says a source familiar with the structure of PMCs (the same amount is received by relatives of Russian military personnel who died during the hostilities). But getting them is not always easy, insists an acquaintance of a “private trader” who died in Syria: often families have to literally knock out funds. The officer of the Ministry of Defense clarifies that for a deceased relative, families receive 1 million rubles, for wounded soldiers they pay up to 500 thousand rubles.

Taking into account salaries, supplying the base, accommodation and meals, the annual maintenance of the Wagner group can cost from 5.1 billion to 10.3 billion rubles. One-time expenses for equipment - 170 million rubles, compensation to the families of the victims with a minimum estimate of losses - from 27 million rubles.

Foreign PMCs and security companies do not disclose the structure of expenses - it is impossible to “pull out” from their reporting either the amount of training costs, or the salary of a fighter, or the cost of maintaining a group. In the mid-2000s, in Iraq, employees of one of the most famous military companies, Academi (formerly known as Blackwater), received from $600 to 1,075 thousand a day, Washington Post wrote. According to the publication, the general of the US Army at the same time received a little less than $500 a day. US Marine Corps veterans who trained soldiers in Iraq could earn up to $1,000, the Associated Press reported. CNN estimated the salary of mercenaries a little more modestly - at $ 750: that's how much the fighters were due at the beginning of the war in Iraq.

Later, the monthly salary of “private traders” working in the Middle East could rise to about £10,000 (about $16,000 at the average annual rate), the Guardian pointed out. “In 2009, there was a period of about three months, when we lost people every two or three days,” the publication quotes the words of a veteran of the British army, who served at that time on a contract in Afghanistan. The cumulative losses of PMCs operating in the Middle East amounted to dozens of dead and hundreds and thousands of wounded: for example, in 2011, 39 fighters were killed and 5,206 people were injured.

"Syrian Express"

The fighters get to Syria on their own, there is no centralized dispatch, one of the mercenaries explains. But the goods for the Wagner group are delivered by sea, on the ships of the "Syrian Express". This name first appeared in the media in 2012: this is the name of the ships that supply the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including military goods.

The composition of the "express" can be divided into three parts: ships of the Navy, ships that previously operated civilian voyages and then became part of the military fleet, and chartered dry cargo ships owned by various companies around the world, says Mikhail Voitenko, creator of the Maritime Bulletin website. It monitors the movement of ships using an automatic information system (AIS), which allows you to identify ships and determine the movement parameters, including the course.

“The military bases are supplied with the help of an auxiliary fleet. If there are not enough ships, then the Ministry of Defense hires ordinary commercial ships, but they cannot carry military cargo, ”explains an interlocutor familiar with the organization of sea freight. Among the ships that have joined the ranks of the Navy since the spring of 2015 is the Kazan-60 dry cargo ship, which, as Reuters wrote, is part of the "express". Recently, it has changed owners many times: for example, at the end of 2014, under the name of Georgy Agafonov, the ship was sold by the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company to the Turkish company 2E Denizcilik SAN. VE TIC.A.S.

The Turks resold it to the British company Cubbert Business L.P., then, as stated in a letter from 2E Denizcilik to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine (a copy is at the disposal of RBC), the ASP company “located in Russia” became the owner. Among the firms associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin is the winner of several auctions for cleaning objects of the Ministry of Defense and a participant in one of the tenders for maintaining the base in Molkino. In October 2015, the ship became part of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) of the Russian Navy under the name Kazan-60. The command of the Black Sea Fleet did not answer RBC's question about how the fleet received the vessel.

In total, at least 15 civilian ships were involved in the Syrian Express: in the fall of 2015, they all followed the Novorossiysk-Tartus route, Voitenko notes, citing AIS data. Most of the vessels are registered to firms located in Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Greece and Ukraine. Several companies are located in Russia, follows from the data of Marinetraffic.com and Fleetphoto.ru services.

Voitenko estimates the freight of one civilian ship at $4,000 per day, of which $2,000 is its maintenance, and $1,500 is the cost of fuel and fees. Based on this estimate, the lease of only civilian ships from the "express" for 305 days (September 30 - July 31) could amount to $ 18.3 million, or a little more than 1.2 billion rubles.

Delicate Interests

In early March 2016, with the support of Russian aviation, Assad's army launched an operation to liberate Palmyra: the city was recaptured after 20 days of fighting. “All the disparate ISIS gangs that escaped from the encirclement were destroyed by Russian aircraft, which did not allow them to leave in the direction of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor,” said Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff.

PMC fighters played a big role in the liberation of the areas of the historical part of Palmyra, says a former officer of the group. “First, the Wagner guys work, then the Russian ground units come in, then the Arabs and the cameras,” he says. According to him, the Wagner detachment is used mainly for offensives in difficult areas. This allows to reduce losses among the regular forces in Syria, says the source in one of the PMCs.

On March 6, 2016, with the support of Russian aviation, the army of Bashar al-Assad launched an operation to liberate Palmyra, which had been in the hands of the Islamic State militants since May 2015. The city was recaptured almost 20 days later (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

The Wagner Group is not entirely correct to call a private military company, another representative of this market is sure. “The detachment does not set itself the task of making money, this is not a business,” he clarifies. In the case of the Wagner group, the interests of the state, which needed forces to solve delicate tasks in Syria, coincided with the desire of a group of former military personnel to earn money by performing tasks in the interests of the country, explains an interlocutor of RBC, close to the leadership of the FSB.

“The benefit of PMCs is the ability to use them abroad, when the use of regular armed forces is not very appropriate,” said Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis. He actually repeats the statement of Vladimir Putin. “This (PMC. — RBC) is indeed a tool for realizing national interests without the direct participation of the state,” Putin, who at that time held the post of head of government, said in the spring of 2012.

In the same vein, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is responsible for the military-industrial complex, spoke in the same vein in the fall of 2012: “We are thinking about whether our money will flow to finance foreign private security military companies or we will consider the feasibility of creating such companies within Russia itself and take a step in this direction."

PMCs are also an opportunity for large businesses to use armed guards that will ensure the security of facilities abroad, such as oil pipelines or factories, Grinyaev from the Center for Strategic Assessments and Forecasts notes. For the protection of its facilities, including in Iraq, LUKOIL in 2004, for example, created the agency LUKOM-A, and the security of Rosneft facilities is provided by a subsidiary of the company RN-Guard.

“For the state, the use of private military companies can be financially beneficial only for solving specific problems, but cannot replace the army,” said Vladimir Neyelov, an expert at the Center for Strategic Studies. Among the risks of legalizing PMCs, he calls a possible outflow of personnel from among the active military - not only for financial reasons, but also for the sake of career growth.

As for PMC Wagner, due to the appearance in the media of information about its connection with the base in Molkino, the Ministry of Defense is discussing the option of transferring “private traders”, says an FSB officer. According to him, Tajikistan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia are among the possible options. This is confirmed by the interlocutor in the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, he is sure that they will not disband the PMC - the unit has proven its effectiveness.

With the participation of Elizaveta Surnacheva

History of secret Russian mercenaries.

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 commissioned by 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 massacre, 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 - it is impossible directly, "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 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 recruitment. 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,” says Oleg, 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 there were the most garbage, the very hell. 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 the trench, it's the end. The wounded appear, they need to be evacuated. How many people drop out? - says Oleg.

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

The Russians tried to raise the allies to the 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 bowl 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 force them out of 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 driven into a heap 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. 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 did not arrange Stalingrad. Why is this necessary - people were saved and moved away. And now they are constantly acting with small injections, they are constantly attacking the Syrians."

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 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 - a 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."

Image caption Former British Army infantryman Tyrus McQueen worked under a PMC contract in Iraq and Afghanistan

The actions of private military companies from Russia (primarily the Wagner PMC most often featured in the press) in Syria are significantly different from how such units usually operate, security specialist Tyrus McQueen told the BBC.

In February, there were reports in the media about a possible defeat in Syria of a detachment of Russians from the Wagner PMC. Various Russian and foreign publications wrote that from 11 to several hundred Russians could have died there.

Reports of the death of PMC employees from Russia in Syria appear regularly. As the BBC Russian Service managed to find out, at least 54 fighters of private military companies from Russia were killed there in September 2017 alone.

Russia does not officially confirm the existence of PMCs, but admits the possibility of a certain number of non-military Russian citizens being in Syria.

• “Why is my son worse”: the mother of a PMC fighter killed in Syria fights for his recognition as a soldier
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Tyrus McQueen has worked in various PMCs for more than eight years and believes that Wagner PMC employees can change the specifics of the work of private military companies.

BBC: Tyrus, tell me how you came inprivate military company?

Tyrus McQueen: Until 2004, I served in the British Army and took part in the military operation in Iraq. Then I decided to go into private business.

At that moment, there were already several PMCs operating in Iraq. They certainly didn't advertise in the papers. But in circles near the war everyone knew about them, word of mouth worked well.

I submitted an application, passed the necessary checks and went on a business trip - again to Iraq, but already as an employee of a PMC. The tasks were different.

For example, I have worked many times on contracts with the British and American governments. But there was nothing close to what they write now about the Wagner PMC. I have not been to Syria for several years and personally did not see the Wagnerites in action.

But, judging by the stories of people who are familiar with the work of these guys, they are actively involved in hostilities. We had a completely different story.

Image caption McQueen notes that Western PMC fighters are usually equipped and provided better than regular army soldiers.

BBC: What do PMCs usually do in a conflict zone?

T.M.: It depends a lot on the PMC. Some simply carry out the functions of armed protection of objects or people. But there are also rather murky companies that do things that the army does not want to do.

A striking example was the American company Blackwater. (the largest PMC in the world; gained notoriety after the US invasion of Iraq in connection with suspicions of killing civilians and smuggling weapons; in 2009 it was renamed Xe Services, and then Academi - approx. BBC).

The company I worked for was different. Most of the time in Iraq, for example, I provided security for senior officers of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

When they traveled to troubled areas, we ensured their safety. There was a contract under which we trained the Iraqi police. In 2008, I worked under a contract for the British government.

We provided security for the British legation in Baghdad. British PMCs are generally quite strict.

Now, in order to get a more or less serious contract, you need to have a bodyguard license. And for this you need to take paid courses, pass tests.

In the United States, for example, there are PMCs who recruit people with a dubious biography.

BBC: Are the employeesPMCan analogue of the military or is it support staff?

T.M.: We were definitely support personnel, and our tasks were significantly different from those of the army. In fact, we worked as bodyguards in the conflict zone. Our main difference from the military is that we have never conducted offensive operations.

Yes, sometimes we opened fire, but we did it only to protect our clients, ourselves or a protected object from attack. There is a lot of talk about Blackwater's dark dealings in Iraq.

Yesterday's sheriffs of the American police often came to their service. They got machine guns in their hands, and they were blown off their heads. They started shooting with or without reason. But I don't remember any Blackwater offensives.

Russians behave differently. You could say they changed the rules of the game. As far as I know, Wagner PMCs are essentially fighting in Syria. It looks like some private GRU army.

At the same time, I do not think that only Wagner PMCs do this today. It is quite possible that American PMCs, actively participating in hostilities, are also operating in Syria or Iraq.

Image caption While working in Libya, McQueen was photographed in the private jet of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"I wouldn't go to war for that kind of money"

BBC: How well is a PMC employee paid?

T.M.: Employees of private military companies always receive more soldiers of regular armies. Most often, they are also better equipped. But in the PMC market, a lot changes over time.

In the early 2000s, the demand for PMC services was high, and there were not so many people who could go on such business trips, so they paid well. I remember sometimes we received 120 thousand euros a year (near147 youWith.dollars or 8millionrubles - approx BBC).

Then more and more PMCs began to appear. There were more people who wanted to earn money. As a result, wages began to fall.

I remember that in 2008, under one of the contracts, we were paid $400 a day. But then a company came that offered the customer the same services, but much cheaper.

As a result, the director told us that the salary was reduced to 270 dollars a day. Anyone who disagrees can leave. But we stayed. I heard that the Russians fight for 5 thousand dollars a month. I wouldn't go to war for that kind of money.

"There are no rights, but there is no need to report"

BBC: At hem the difference between a soldier and a PMC fighter in the context of their status, rights in the conflict zone? Is it possible to say that a soldier is higher in the hierarchy or lower?

T.M.: The military is more tied to its infrastructure and hierarchy. Overall, this gives them more protection and more rights. But there are also reservations.

Look, soldiers and officers obey the army laws of their country, as well as the orders of their command. If you were ambushed or engaged in a firefight with someone, as a military man you are obliged to report this to your commanders.

PMC employees have more freedom. You got, for example, into an ambush. He fired and moved on. You can't report anything to anyone.

BBC: The military can't do that?

T.M.: No. First, the military usually works as part of a group with a clear hierarchy. Ordinary, junior commanders, officers. Almost everyone has a walkie-talkie, someone usually has a video camera on his helmet. Not reporting on fire contact will not work.

Everything is different in PMC. We worked in groups of 5-10 people. There was no official hierarchy within the group.

Yes, there was one senior in the group. But this was just a guy who was paid more to make decisions on the battlefield. And that's it. He did not have to report to the top about every step or shot.

Guys from PMCs are most often outlaws. For example, in Iraq, Blackwater employees were not subject to Iraqi law based on an order from the Iraqi transitional government.

At home, in the USA, no one touched them for a long time either. There were several courts. But these were more show trials.

But this medal also has a downside. PMC employees have practically no rights. Protection in case of problems too. The exception is when you work under a government contract.

Image caption McQueen also worked in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. But already as a bodyguard.

BBC: What happens if a PMC employee is killed or injured?

T.M.: Let's go in order. All PMC employees are insured. If a person is killed, his body is delivered to the PMC base in the conflict zone. And then the deceased is brought home by a PMC plane or an insurance company plane.

The family is paid compensation, as prescribed in the contract of the deceased. The insurance company pays the compensation.

Dead PMC employees are not counted as military casualties. This is partly why different states use the services of PMCs.

Now about the wounded. Usually PMCs have their own doctors or orderlies on the battlefield. They provide first aid, stabilize the condition of the wounded.

Then they take him home by plane. In my case, London. And here a person is already being treated in a regular hospital.

If the PMC worked under a government contract, then representatives of the army can provide assistance. For example, when we worked for the US Army, our guys were treated in military hospitals.

BBC: TOWhat kind of relationship do guys from PMCs have with the military?

T.M.: Usually very good. Most PMC employees are former soldiers of the regular armies, they know very well what life is like in uniform.

In turn, many active military men look with interest at the employees of PMCs. After all, it could be a continuation of their career.

There are no interaction protocols. But the military and private traders often help each other. When I worked for PMCs in Iraq, American soldiers helped us out of an ambush several times.

BBC: Did you ask them for help, or was it the initiative of the Americans?

T.M.: It happened that they were just lucky - the group was passing by. And sometimes they asked. We knew how to contact them. But help did not always come. Such a decision is always made by the head of the group, based on their tasks.

Sometimes it happened that no one responded to our requests for help. The guys in uniform had to solve their problems or it was impossible to reveal themselves.

We also sometimes helped the military. But it was purely our initiative. They never asked for help, and we never did any joint operations with the army.

"We behaved no better than the Russians"

BBC: Can PMC fighters receive any awards for their work? I mean medals and orders.

T.M.: No. What other orders? We received money. Even bonuses are not given for the good performance of the task - only the previously agreed salary.

It seems that a few years after the end of hostilities in Iraq, a commemorative medal "For the Reconstruction of Iraq" was established. And several guys got it.

But this is not a military award. This medal was handed out to the right and to the left. And PMC employees never receive combat awards.

BBC: You have already made several remarks about" PMC Wagnera" . How do you evaluate the actions of this company?

T.M.: To be honest, I don't really follow them because I'm busy with my work. But when I worked on contracts in eastern Ukraine, many people often mentioned the Wagnerists in their conversations.

I personally have nothing against their work. Our PMCs worked in Iraq and Afghanistan. We came to Iraq and smashed the country. We certainly did not behave better there than the Russians do now in Syria.

Yes, the Wagnerites are now openly fighting in Syria. Usually PMC employees do not do this. But this development of the situation does not surprise me. For sure, PMCs from other countries will follow or are already following their example.

The war in Syria is increasingly turning from conventional to hybrid. This raises many questions about the future of Damascus and the future of the region as a whole. And, perhaps, this is not the last turn in the history of the development of private military companies.

Tyrus McQueen- security specialist. For about 20 years he served in the infantry of the British army, took part in the fighting in Iraq. Since 2004, he began working for private military companies. Under the contract, the PMC worked on the territory of Iraq and Afghanistan. As a bodyguard, he provided security for clients in Libya and in the conflict zone in southeastern Ukraine.

" PMC Wagnera"- a Russian private military company whose employees took part in the hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine on the side of supporters of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass, as well as in Syria. In June 2017, the Wagner PMC was included in the US sanctions list. The PMC is not officially registered anywhere, the Russian authorities deny any connection with it.Mercenarism is considered a criminal offense in Russia, but attempts to legitimize the activities of PMCs are made regularly.

PMC "Wagner" (Wagner Group, Wagner Private Military Company)- an unofficial name for units of Russian volunteers and mercenaries taking part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine and Syria since 2014. The group was initially recruited from retired officers of various Russian law enforcement agencies and volunteers with experience in serving in the Russian army and special forces.

It is believed that the head of this unofficial PMC is a reserve lieutenant colonel, who until 2013 was the commander of the 700th separate special forces detachment of the 2nd separate special forces brigade of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (the city of Pechory, Pskov region). According to a number of Russian media, PMCs are supported by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. The training base of the group is located in the Krasnodar Territory (Molkino training ground). The maximum number of PMCs, according to Russian media, reached 2.5-3 thousand fighters.

PMC "Wagner" originates from the so-called "Slavic Corps" (Slavonic Corps Limited), which took part in 2013 in the battles on the side of the troops of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad against the Islamists. The Corps was created by managers providing security services around the world. In October 2014, the Moscow City Court sentenced Moran Security Group executives Vadim Gusev and Yevgeny Sidorov to three years in prison each for mercenarism.

According to the Ukrainian authorities and special services, Wagner PMC fighters took part in the events in Crimea in February-March 2014, as well as in the battles in Donbas since April 2014. The Security Service of Ukraine in October 2017 stated that the mercenaries of the Wagner group were involved in the tragedy of IL-76 at the Lugansk airport, the storming of the Lugansk airport and Debaltseve. It is unofficially believed that the Wagner PMC is involved in the cleansing of "uncontrollable" field commanders in the Donbass (Alexander Bednov and a number of other commanders are mentioned among its victims).

Since October 2015, after the entry of Russian troops into Syria, Wagner PMC fighters began to officially operate on the territory of this country. According to a number of media reports, from October 2015 to September 2017, the losses of PMCs in battles with Syrian Islamists amounted to more than a hundred killed and up to three hundred wounded.

As of October 2017, the structure of the Wagner PMC consisted of 6 companies, with a total number of up to 1600-2000 fighters. The salary of a fighter taking part in hostilities is up to 240 thousand rubles (in most cases - 160-170 thousand rubles). Compensation for the death of a fighter was 3 million rubles, for a wound - from 1 to 2 million rubles. According to a number of Russian media, since 2017, the financing of PMCs has deteriorated significantly. At the end of September 2017, ISIS captured two Wagner PMC fighters - 38-year-old Roman Zabolotny, a native of the Rostov region, and 39-year-old Grigory Tsurkana, a native of the Moscow region. On February 7, 2018, American aircraft and artillery attacked PMC units in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. An unspecified number of PMC employees died as a result of this strike.