Russian military official Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov reiterated today that there are no plans for Russian ground troops to get directly involved in the Syrian Civil War, but said it was very likely that Russian “volunteers” will start showing up in the ranks of the Syrian Army.
Komoyedov predicted that a “unit of Russian volunteers, conflict veterans, will probably appear in the ranks of the Syrian Army” soon, saying that such fighters would be drawn to the conflict by the money to be made in such a fight.
Though mercenary fighting is technically illegal in Russia, the law on that is seldom enforced, and the admiral conceded that the emergence of such volunteer forces in Syria “cannot be stopped.” Veterans of the Russian military were a common sight during the Ukraine Civil War as well.
Though such “volunteer” groups inevitably raise speculation that they are operating under Russian government control, the reality may be much more subtle, that Russia is simply more willing to overlook mercenary work when it is carried out for factions with whom the Russian Federation is allied.
Such fighters could be welcomed by the Syrian government, which is struggling to keep its military numbers up after years of war, and while Syria has had no shortage of Shi’ite volunteer militias from Iraq and Iran, they have tended to be untrained and have struggled to fight combat-hardened rebel forces.
I read a recent report on rt which stated that the head of the Chechen Republic has asked Putin to allow the Chechen special forces units to participate.
If these are the guys referred to in this article, daesh is scrood.
Exactly. There is a pattern of events that usually foreshadows what is to come. When Ramzan Kadirov on several occasions said that Chechens are willing to fight against the extremists, what crossed my mind –that is a done deal. Keep in mind that Chechens are fighting in Novorussia as well. That is what irked Ukrainian coup d'état masters. They wanted the narrative of Russia against Moslems, as in Russia that hates Crimean Tatars. All that splendid propaganda was for naught when Chechens showed up in Donetsk.
What, you mean there are Muslims in Chechnya who don't like the takfiri head choppers that made their lives miserable for 20 years?
More to the point, if Putin uses Chechens against ISIS, he is inviting ISIS to retaliate in Chechnya. Little by little, Putin is bogging himself down in Syria.
Naw, he's just fighting them "over there" so he doesn't have to fight them "over here."
Putin wiped out the terrorist in Chechnya a long time ago. That's was one of the things he did to prove himself as a leader to the Russian people and to the rest of the world. Too bad you continue rooting for losers.
Great news. I've said it before, if the Novorussia guys get in there too, they'll easily take care of "IS"
You mean the ones that have got themselves surrounded in the "sausage" by Ukraine's rickety cold war-era army?
Can we also call them "moderate rebels?"
Putin in less than 2 weeks is doing what the United States, and its millions of dollars spent thus far, has been unable to do in 4 years.
Makes you wonder what the real motives have been. 😉
One assumes this means the same mix of private contractors and special forces we have seen in Ukraine. If they're "conflict veterans", that probably means that they're coming from Ukraine. What, if anything, will replace them there is an interesting question. Even more interesting is the fact that, once again, Putin is shying away from using his rickety conscript army. Clearly, the Russian army is largely unreliable.And, of course, one wonders therefore just how reliable the navy and air force personnel in Syria are.
No, it doesn't necessarily. You seem to forget the Islamist activity in Chechnya & our goading of Georgia to make war on Russia just 7 years ago.
Your talking points are lame.