Mercenaries from United States are taking part to military operation in Ukraine 1205141

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Defence & Security News - Ukraine

 
 
Monday, May 11, 2014 09:20 AM
 
Mercenaries from United States are taking part to military operation in Ukraine.
About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports.
     
About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports.
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard at a checkpoint with BMD-2 armoured vehicle near Slovyansk, the focal point of an escalating conflict between government forces and the pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.

     

The Bild am Sonntag newspaper, citing a source in intelligence circles, wrote Sunday that Academi employees are involved in the Kiev military crackdown on pro-autonomy activists in near the town of Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region.

On April 29, German Intelligence Service (BND) informed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government about the mercenaries’ participation in the operation, the paper said, RIA Novosti reported. It is not clear who commands the private military contractors and pays for their services, however.

Media reports claiming that the Ukrainian leadership wants to recruit personnel from private foreign military companies "to maintain law and order" may suggest that the Kiev regime wants to suppress civil protest and discontent, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

According to publicly available information Greystone Limited is a structural part of Blackwater, that was later renamed into Academi. According to military experts, the company is associated with the CIA and the US Defense Department. Its employees participated in the war in Afghanistan after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, the company has appeared in Iraq and became involved in training the new Iraqi armed forces and police, as well as support of the occupation forces.