Military

Russia's shadowy world of military contractors: independent mercenaries, or working for the Kremlin?

The Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin do not officially associate with the private military companies, but media reports and researchers say they have pieced together enough evidence to suggest that the mercenaries are being employed, or at least directed, by the Russian military. The Kremlin denies this.
Little is known publicly about the military groups and how they operate, but they've gained a higher profile since the Feb. 7 airstrike in Syria. The U.S. said it was responding to an attack by hundreds of forces supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad near the Syrian city of Deir al Zor.
Russian media have reported that at least eight of those killed were Russian mercenaries, though some reports put the death toll at close to 200 — an assertion Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dismissed as "misinformation" from the Western press.
"There were not 400, not 200, not 1,000, and not 10," Zakharova said.
The government has confirmed five, but not eight, deaths, while stressing the men were not members of the Russian armed forces. According to interviews with family members of the eight identified, the mercenaries all were in Syria on contract with a private military company called the Wagner Group.