US Mercenaries: The Latest Rumor

The BND is convinced that several hundred mercenaries from a private American security firm are fighting against the pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine. At least, that’s what a representative of the BND propounded in the chancellery a few days ago.

Who these men are, who commissioned them, who is paying them — and for what — seems to be unclear. But in the eyes of the BND, their existence appears to be undoubtable.

Now, there are some knowledgeable people who deem the reconnaissance capabilities of the BND to be, let’s say, less than impressive. And in the region of the Ukrainian crisis, there is no shortage of those “little green men,” masked and running around in camouflage uniforms without insignia. However, this does not mean that the BND is not correct and that someone with enough money — the U.S. government, the Ukrainian government, an East Ukrainian oligarch? — really has given the American company Academi the order to forcibly drive out the separatists from their strongholds.

If that was the case (and this is a very big “if”), then that would be a disaster for the West — a powerful and obvious disaster that even the most ruthless war strategist cannot have failed to foresee. Few things would shake the credibility of Europeans and Americans more than the confirmed news that American mercenaries are in action for the Ukrainian government.

All diplomatic efforts to calm the crisis would thus be absolutely useless. For Moscow, this would be a priceless propaganda victory. The West would stand there morally naked — just as naked as Russia is now — as a fighting party in a proxy war.

And rightly so: The fact that Russian agents and special forces support the separatists cannot be a justification — either for the West or for Kiev — to intervene with mercenaries. This will ultimately fuel civil war rather than prevent it.

The West could not really claim ignorance as a credible excuse; even a large international company could not transport 400 fighters plus weapons, ammunition and other equipment unnoticed halfway around the world, and then move them around Ukraine. Nor would a company like Academi — the successor to the notorious mercenary firm Blackwater — accept such a delicate job as the one in Ukraine presumably is, without demand from Washington. Finally, such companies make a lot of money from government contracts.

So are there American mercenaries in Eastern Ukraine? Who knows. The “fog of war” lies heavy over the region, and whether the BND has its own findings or is only parroting rumors is entirely unclear. One thing is certain: If mercenaries were being used, they would be not worth the money. Eastern Ukraine is still firmly in the hands of the separatists.