Kremlin distances itself from captured ‘Russian soldiers’ shown in ISIS propaganda video - Polidicks

[t]https://gdb.rferl.org/07D7C7CD-4925-4D9A-AA1F-1D0B19AF465C_cx0_cy0_cw85_w1023_r1_s.jpg[/t] [QUOTE] Russia is still “working to confirm” the nationalities of two prisoners purported to be Russian soldiers being held hostage by the Islamic State, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry told [I]The Independent[/I] on Wednesday. “All agencies are working to confirm identities, whereabouts and the circumstances of their kidnapping,” Maria Zakharova said. The spokeswoman added that Russia has not yet received any demands for the release of the prisoners. The Kremlin has so far has maintained a nuanced position in denying that the men were outright Russian soldiers. In a statement put out last night, the Ministry of Defence said that the men, who present themselves as Roman Zabolotny and Grigory Tsurkanu in the hostage video, “were not part of the Russian armed forces.” On Wednesday, however, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would be “concerned” were the men “to turn out to be Russian citizens.” [/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Independent researchers claim to have confirmed the men’s identities – and their indirect links to the Russian armed forces. Using the data the men provide in the video, researchers at Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) were able to identify social media accounts of two men with the same names. The resemblance of photos to the men in the video is persuasive. From this, the researchers contend that Mr Zabolotny spent several years in the Russian army as a contract soldier, before joining a private military group called Wagner. This pseudo-mercenary group is believed to be aligned with Russian security and military forces and has been active in conflicts in both eastern Ukraine and the Middle East. According to some reports, the groups have been trained by Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, GRU. Journalists from Radio Free Europe later spoke to Roman Tsurkanu, the brother of the second man. In the interview, Mr Tsurkanu confirms the identity of his brother and his role fighting for the Wagner unit: “Yes, they were hired soldiers,” Mr Tsurkanu is reported to have said. “The [Russian] state is supporting a private army – Wagner, that’s them.” The Wagner unit has been operating in Syria since as early as 2015, says Ruslan Leviev, a researcher at CIT. Initially, the group was manned by professional mercenaries, “veterans of Chechen and Afghan conflicts.” But after 2016, membership was expanded, and the skillset reduced: “This was when all kinds of people joined, often without direct military experience got involved – Cossacks, separatists from Donbass and so on.” [/QUOTE] [URL]https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/isis-russia-video-soldiers-syria-kremlin-mercenaries-roman-zabolotny-grigory-tsurkanu-a7983316.html[/URL] CIT notes here: [URL]https://www.facebook.com/notes/conflict-intelligence-team/a-russian-cossack-and-a-yugoslav-wars-vet-who-are-the-russians-captured-by-is/861604403992538/[/URL]

This prompted me to read up on Wagner. It's like some stalker-style mercenary goon squad, only its real. Basically Russia can tell these people to do what they want, without actually having to be held internationally responsible for their operations. Allegedly named after their founders fascination with the third reich, yikes. Sucks for them i guess, but they did get themselves into this business.

[quote]The Wagner unit has been operating in Syria since as early as 2015, says Ruslan Leviev, a researcher at CIT. Initially, the group was manned by professional mercenaries, “veterans of Chechen and Afghan conflicts.” [/quote] Literally the sketchiest shit I've heard all year.

[QUOTE=Chris Morris;52752222]Literally the sketchiest shit I've heard all year.[/QUOTE] Just another mercenary group, there's hundreds of them.

[QUOTE=St33m;52752207]This prompted me to read up on Wagner. It's like some stalker-style mercenary goon squad, only its real. Basically Russia can tell these people to do what they want, without actually having to be held internationally responsible for their operations. Allegedly named after their founders fascination with the third reich, yikes. Sucks for them i guess, but they did get themselves into this business.[/QUOTE] They were also at the center of controversy earlier this year when a video of their members beating a suspected ISIS member with a sledgehammer surfaced on the internet. [url]https://www.funker530.com/prisoner-sledge-hammer/[/url] InformNapalm has a pretty comprehensive article about them and some other Russian PMCs [url]http://informnapalm.rocks/private-military-companies-in-russia-carrying-out-criminal-orders-of-the-kremlin[/url]

[QUOTE=Faunze;52753137]Just another mercenary group, there's hundreds of them.[/QUOTE] Your average mercenary group doesn't have survivors of a genocidal crusade in it.

[QUOTE=Chris Morris;52754075]Your average mercenary group doesn't have survivors of a genocidal crusade in it.[/QUOTE] my stepdad did some work with saladin a few years back, you get all kinds of psychos and nutters, the only thing any of em have in common is a desire to get paid for hurting people; there's no telling what their political views are; few of em could be nazis, communists, anarchists or fuck knows what else; and a mercenary company seems like a good place to make contacts if you're serious about the more violent side of your political beliefs; i would daresay this ain't the only group with political undertones

[QUOTE=Chris Morris;52754075]Your average mercenary group doesn't have survivors of a genocidal crusade in it.[/QUOTE] A lot of them do, actually. Aegis employs former child soldiers from Sierra Leone, for instance, because they are much cheaper than Western alternatives. Most of those men who, as children, had to watch their parents be murdered and were then forced to kill and torture for those who orphaned them. They routinely had to chop innocent people's hands off. PMCs are a deeply disgusting industry. That's not even going into the abuse they perpetrate and lack of control they enjoy.