Russia seeks to regulate private military contractors

Associated Presstitutes Via Yahoo Noose ^ | February 14, 2018 | VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

[Navy Patriot]

The Russian parliament is working on a bill to regulate private military companies, a senior lawmaker said Wednesday after reports that an unknown number of Russian military contractors were killed in a U.S. strike in Syria.

... Along with the Russian military, which has waged a military campaign in Syria backing the government since 2015, thousands of Russians have also reportedly fought there as private contractors.

... The U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces have been vying with Russian-backed Syrian troops reinforced by Iranian-supported militias for control of the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province. But it was unclear why pro-government forces there advanced on an oil factory held by U.S.-backed fighters despite the obvious risks of facing a devastating U.S. counterattack.

[Navy Patriot]

An interesting AP article confirming that the recent Syrian operations were about reclaiming Syrian oil and gas recovery and revenue currently used to finance ISIS through Turkey or the Syrian "Moderate" "Rebels" via the Kurds.

AP speculates that private players in the Russian Petro industry have financed large groups of contract fighters partially concealing them from the Russian Government.

[VietVet876]

Oil. Oil. Oil. Why don’t we just drill here, drill now. And let the towel heads drink and bathe in their own motion lotion.

[blueplum]

yes, well, the little green men aren’t Russians at all; they’re mercenaries. Where have we heard that before?

[NorseViking]

‘ChVK’ or private military companies are more an annoyance than allies to the Russian military there.
These are actually illegal in Russia and mostly registered in offshores or working under guise of ‘ChOP’ or private security firms.
There is an article 359 in a Russian criminal code criminalizing any participation in non-government military organization other that home-defence militia.
Although there is a powerful lobby pushing to legalize it.

[Navy Patriot]

I was wondering why AP passively explored Russian private contractors while the story was about the action of the Duma to expose them and bring them under control of law.

Turns out it is AP propaganda to discredit the Russian Military and State for the actions of some of their petro private companies.

[NorseViking]

That is Western propaganda and domestic Russian liberal election propaganda meet each other. Western media wants to see these guys as part of Russian military and Russian liberals are playing their parents and widows trying to build discontent basing on it. The idea is hey, you see, your loved once died ‘for the common good’ (meaning ‘Putin’s foreign adventures’) and the government doesn’t care saying they don’t know them. It is far from reality but here it is. Based on such propaganda some relatives developing specific mentality. They really believe they are entitled to pensions and benefits as if their kids or husbands were killed in a line of duty. That’s basic psychology. People are bedazzled by their loss and an idea of victims being some sort of hero and not a mercenary easily sets into mind. And they blame Putin for not getting any. That’s perfect protest material for the lib’s like Navalny. ‘Putin is killing our babies!’ The facts doesn’t really matter.
I believe current legal ground is good enough, the statement by Duma is basically to preempt such propaganda and eliminate discontent. First, they are explaining the reality and then promising solution.

[Navy Patriot]

I made an incorrect assumption when I first read and posted this AP "story", that assumption was that Russian private contract security was authorized by law and overseen by Government regulation in similar manner that US private contract security is, and that is NOT the case.

AP was aware of this difference and wrote the "story" withholding that information for the purpose of creating the perception that Putin, and the Russian Government supported and controlled these private security and their actions, when they did not.

Thanks for the rundown on how this is used in Russia to discredit the Government and Putin, and confuse Russian citizens about those eligible for Military service and Veterans Benefits.

This was another facet of Russian Culture that I did not understand until I was able to learn the details.

[NorseViking]

Yes, technically being part of a private army is a felony punished by 3 to 7 years in prison.
Russian legal system is very transparent with nearly every sentence by every court available online. You can find hundreds of related verdicts on court’s websites.
Most sentenced are members of ISIS or related Syrian and also Ukrainian groups. That includes ‘pro-Russian’ Ukrainian groups who are allegedly a part of Russian military according to media propaganda but their activity is actually not supported and punished.