Martial law by mercenary is nothing new

OTTAWA—With the recent crisis in Russia, wherein the private mercenary army called the Wagner Group mutinied and threatened to topple the regime of President Vladimir Putin, casual observers were shocked at the concept of Russia employing a privately owned military force. The usual suspects in the world of western military punditry were quick to hold up the Wagner Group’s existence as further proof of Russian evilness and ineptitude. The sad truth is that privately owned mercenary armies have long been employed by global super powers to extend their martial authority without having to endanger the lives of their own citizenry. In fact, if one simply looks across the current battleline in Ukraine, it was a collection of privately owned militias that initially bore the brunt of the fighting against the Russian-backed separatists. In 2014, following the Maidan revolution that forced the expulsion of elected Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian Ukrainian residents of the Donbas took up arms and proclaimed their own independence from the new administration in Kyiv. At that juncture, the existing Armed Forces of Ukraine were in disarray, with many soldiers themselves having mixed loyalties based on the division within the country. Thus, it fell to organizations like the Azov battalion to carry the fight against the pro-Russian separatists. The Azov battalion was privately funded, and its ranks were filled with many international volunteers with links to neo-Nazi organizations. The unit's founder, Andriy Biletsky, reportedly claimed it was his mission to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen .” Despite the Nazi overtones, Azov proved to be an effective fighting force and the regiment was soon incorporated into Ukraine’s official armed forces, albeit with a large degree of autonomy within that organization. Following their defiant defence of the steel plant in Mariupol against overwhelming Russian forces, the members of Azov were elevated to the level of heroes in the western media, and their previously reported neo-Nazi origins have been all but forgotten. Closer to home, the United States has made extensive use of private armies during its recent failed occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the largest of these is a group called Constellis, which is better known by its original name Blackwater. Founded in December 1996 by former Navy Seal officer Erik Prince, Blackwater at its zenith employed more than 10,000 mercenaries, and carried out the heavy lifting in counter-insurgency operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2003 onwards, they were directly employed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to wage black ops on American enemies. As a private entity, Blackwater was not bound by the “rules-based international order,” which constrains the conventional U.S. forces. In 2007, Blackwater went a step too far over the line when its employees unleashed what became known as the Nisour Square Massacre. In that incident, Blackwater mercenaries killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured another 20. Four Blackwater employees were tried and convicted of the murders in a U.S. court, but those convictions were pardoned on Dec. 22, 2020, by outgoing American president Donald Trump. During Canada’s participation in the failed occupation of Afghanistan, in addition to the regular force battle group deployed by the Canadian Armed Forces, the Canadian government also employed a number of privately owned militias. Many of these contracts were with local warlords-turned-democratically-elected officials. The payments were essentially a form of “protection money” to keep these fighters ostensibly on our side. These fighters were also able to operate outside the constraints of any “rules-based international order,” and they often used that status to prey upon the local citizenry in the name of NATO. This, of course, only further defeated the purpose of Canada deploying troops to make a better, more secure life for the people of Afghanistan. Historically, the employment of mercenaries has rarely—if ever—resulted in a positive long-lasting result. When the U.S. colonies rose up in revolt in 1776, Britain opted to counter the military threat by deploying a large force of German mercenaries. The bulk of this 30,000-strong force was supplied by the German state of Hesse-Kassel and they became known as the Hessians. While they were excellent fighters, they also earned a reputation for their ruthless conduct towards civilians, whether they were loyalists to the British crown or supporters of independence. Having just celebrated the Fourth of July with our American neighbours, we all know the Hessians may have won some battles, but they did not win the war. Ditto for Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan. The insurgents never defeated them in an actual military clash. They simply wore down the American will to maintain their illegal occupations. It will be very interesting to observe what happens in the wake of the Wagner Group’s aborted mutiny. Perhaps they can take a leaf out of Blackwater’s playbook and simply change their name. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times