The Russian authorities are considering supporting the families of those who participate in the special operation in Ukraine as part of the PMCsTASS-DOSSIER.
The Russian authorities are considering supporting the families of those who participate in a special operation in Ukraine as part of private military companies. On February 16, 2023, President Vladimir Putin said this during a meeting with the Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. TASS has prepared a material about private military companies in different countries and their status.
Private military companies
The use of hired soldiers in conflicts and wars has a centuries-old history (Landsknechts - German mercenary infantrymen of the Renaissance, Hessians and soldiers of other German principalities in the XVII-XIX centuries, Swiss Guards). This practice was revived in the form of private military and security companies (PMCs, PMCs) in the 1960s. The first such companies were established in the UK, USA, Israel and South Africa, and later their number began to increase. States began to attract such organizations to protect various facilities, train police and armed forces, and could also use them outside the country, thus eliminating reputational losses, as in the case of direct use of their armed forces. PMCs can work both under the patronage of states and in the interests of transnational corporations whose business is associated with the presence in points of instability. According to The Economist magazine in 2012, over the first decade of the 21st century, the PMCs market has turned into a global service sector with a volume of more than $100 billion. Currently, according to a number of experts, there are 3-4 thousand PMCs in the world, their annual income is $ 350-400 billion.
Services and status
Private military and security companies perform tasks related to military training, intelligence, logistics, armed protection of facilities (embassies, deposits, factories, energy facilities, military bases and warehouses, prisons, convoy escort and cargo, security, including in unstable territories and conflict zones), mine clearance of minefields and destruction of unexploded ordnance, supply and maintenance of special equipment and equipment. They are also involved in combat operations.
In legal terms, the activities of "private armies" are in a "gray zone", their status is not defined. They remained outside the legal regulation, since international humanitarian law, which established the norms of warfare, developed at a time when PMCs did not play a significant role. Only a small part of the PMCs employees - only those who are directly involved in hostilities (the vast majority perform auxiliary functions) - can fall under the scope of article 47 of the 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention of 1949, and then only if a number of criteria that make up the definition of "mercenary" are simultaneously met.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is trying to determine the status of PMCs. He notes that if PMCs are "included in the armed forces of a State or are fighting on the side of a conflict participant and take direct part in hostilities," then their employees are considered combatants (regular army soldiers). At the same time, experts argue that in order to legalize PMCs as combatants, they must be incorporated into the domestic legislation of states. Since most PMCs are considered to be civilian organizations providing certain services, the key question is whether PMCs are directly involved in hostilities and, consequently, whether they lose their civilian status. ICRC experts believe that PMCs work in "extremely blurry situations, the boundaries of which are difficult to separate."
In 2008, at the initiative of Switzerland and the ICRC, the Montreux Document was developed, obliging PMCs to respect fundamental human rights and freedoms, and States to investigate violations committed by employees of companies. However, the document has no legal force and is purely advisory in nature. Of the 58 signatory countries, only Switzerland has introduced the guiding principles of this document at the legislative level. In 2010, at the initiative of the United States, the International Code of Conduct for Private Military and Security Companies was adopted (it formulates the legal basis for the legalization of mercenary activity based on self-regulation of this activity), which is also advisory in nature. About 600 PMCs from 70 states joined it.
National legislation in the field of regulation of PMCs
A number of countries have laws regulating the activities of PMCs. However, companies have opportunities to circumvent these restrictions. In many States, there is no legislation concerning PMCs. Thus, in Austria and Germany there are no standards for the industry of private military and security activities. In these countries, they adhere to the regulation characteristic of commercial companies. There is also no mention of PMCs and military security activities (entrepreneurship) in the UK legislation, but there are acts regulating the issues of private security organizations, which, among other things, are allowed to provide relevant services to civilian and military customers abroad.
A number of European Union States control the export of training and training services for the use of military technologies. In particular, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy require special licenses for any training services related to the use of weapons, and Estonia and Poland also regulate the provision of consulting services for military goods, including "technical support related to the improvement, production, assembly, testing, repair, transportation and storage of military goods or any other related services." In Sweden, "training for military purposes" is allocated to a separate category of licensing.
Famous PMCs
The first PMCs in the modern sense is the British Watchguard International, created in 1965 by veterans of the special forces of the British armed forces David Stirling and John Woodhouse. The company was registered in an offshore zone on the island of Jersey, headquartered in London. The main focus of her activity was the training of various law enforcement organizations in the Middle East and Africa. In addition, the PMCs provided consulting on military issues, training of personnel, as well as combat and logistical support during anti-insurgency operations. The company actively cooperated with the government and acted solely in its interests. In the early 1970s, the PMCs was developing an operation under the code name "Hilton", in which it was planned to raid Tripoli. The purpose of this plan was to overthrow the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in order to restore the power of King Idris al Senussi, who was removed from power in 1969 (he also financed the operation). However, then the British Foreign Ministry decided that the foreign policy risks exceed the possible benefits. In 1972, PMC Watchguard International was dissolved.
The American Academi was founded in 1996 by Eric Prince and Al Clark, former officers of the Special Operations Forces unit of the US Navy Navy SEALs. The original and most famous name is Blackwater. It was renamed Blackwater Worldwide in 2007, Xe Services in 2009, and Academi in 2011. According to a number of media reports, she took part in combat operations in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, cooperated with the Pentagon on combating drug trafficking, the services of this company were used by the State Department to protect US diplomatic institutions and their employees abroad. In addition, there are known facts of Blackwater's cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Security in the field of eliminating the consequences of major natural disasters (in particular, Hurricane Katrina in 2005) and protecting state institutions, banks and telecommunications infrastructure from looters. The company owned several training centers, which were called the largest in the country by the media. The PMCs itself claimed to provide air transportation, logistical support for regular troops, security services, production of unmanned aerial vehicles and armored personnel carriers, transport services, as well as humanitarian support. Many key positions in the company were held by former American high-ranking officials. So, in 2005-2008, the deputy chairman of the company was Cofer Black, in 1999-2002 he headed the CIA Counterterrorism Center, and in 2002-2004 he served as the coordinator of the State Department for combating terrorism. The PMCs has repeatedly received lawsuits on charges of killing civilians in Iraq and smuggling weapons. In 2014, Academi merged with another American PMCs - Triple Canopy, which in turn is a subsidiary of the Constellis Group company, and now operates under this name.
The German Asgaard German Security Group (the name goes back to Scandinavian mythology, where Asgard is the "heavenly city") is a private security firm. Founded in 2007 by Thomas Kaltegertner, a former paratrooper in Telgta (Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia; the office was subsequently moved). Engaged in the provision of services such as consultations and training, ensuring the security of military and civilian facilities and convoys, performing the functions of bodyguards. There is no data on the number of employees and participation in conflicts, but in different years the German media wrote about its presence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Croatia. In 2010, the German information portal Tagesschau wrote that she was recruiting reservists of the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces of Germany) to participate in the civil war in Somalia on the side of one of the paramilitary groups.
International private military consulting company SADAT (Arabic. "Gentlemen"), headquartered in Istanbul, was founded in 2012 by retired General Adnan Tanryverdi. According to official information, the organization is engaged in providing military consultations, training personnel in the field of defense and security, as well as supply services to the armed forces. Local and Western media reported on the participation of PMCs in military conflicts abroad. The organization was accused of training fighters from among Syrian refugees for their further use against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. In 2020, the US authorities suspected the Turkish PMCs of transferring Syrian militants to support the Libyan Government of National Accord in Tripoli. In the same year, the UN Working Group reported on the relocation of Syrian militants to Azerbaijan, some experts suspected SADAT of its organization.
EHC Group is a French private security company founded in 1999 by former officers of the French army led by Bruno Trinquier. Initially based in Luxembourg, and in 2004 was registered in the USA in Duver, has representative offices in the UK and Ivory Coast. The number is more than 1 thousand people - former military, law enforcement officers or security services of the private sector. According to the EHC Group's website, it does not take direct or indirect part in armed conflicts. Its tasks include the provision of services for the armed protection of facilities, convoys, VIPs, emergency evacuation of personnel, assistance in training flight safety personnel, basic and special training for riot control. According to media reports, in 2003-2004 its employees were present in Iraq and Afghanistan, currently the company operates mainly in Africa.
