What we know about the shadowy Russian mercenary firm behind an attack on U.S. troops in Syria
One of the most complicated episodes in Syria's ever-twisting war took place the night of Feb. 7. In that incident, U.S. troops and their Syrian allies near the town of Deir al-Zour were attacked by hundreds of fighters loyal to the Syrian regime.
(Note: The barbaric Syrian regime, led by butcher Bashar al Assad, is a puppet of the Russians. He is conducting daily massacres of Syrian civilians-- aided by airstrikes by the Russian Air Force).
The Americans responded with a devastating counterattack that the United States said left about 100 dead.
Soon, the situation was complicated further by reports that Russian mercenaries had taken part in the attack and were among the dead — making it the deadliest U.S.-Russia clash since the Cold War.
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The mercenary firm is named Wagner, and it has been linked to Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch.
In 2015, after the Russian military intervened to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Wagner began sending troops to Syria; as early as October 2015, just one month after Russia began airstrikes, Russian citizens were reported to have died fighting alongside pro-government forces. Subsequent reports indicated that Wagner mercenaries may be deployed to Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Private military companies can serve a key purpose for Russia. The Kremlin is keen to avoid official casualties in Syria like those that were sustained during bloody and unpopular wars, notably in Chechnya and the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. And as Moscow saw during the conflict in Ukraine, private military contractors can give it a degree of plausible deniability when it comes to controversial international conflicts.
From the era of ''proxie wars'', now the ''contractor wars''.
With the death of so many Russians by US and allied troops, we've heard little about this in the media.
Wars and military engagements rarely go as planned.
Wonder how many US soldiers have been killed and wounded by Russian supplied weapons these past few years? Anybody dare venture a guess?
Ah well. "No collusion," and we heard it from 'the barker's' mouth.