Nostr

The death of Russian Wagner leader Prigozhin has placed private mercenaries under unprecedented spotlight. However, state-hired mercenaries aren’t new or exclusively Russian; they are used by governments worldwide.

But why?

Private Military Companies (PMCs) are non-state actors contracted to perform military tasks. Like everything else in capitalism, PMCs are not subject to any ideology except the drive for profit.

PMCs are utilized to militarily enforce state interests while evading responsibility for associated war crimes. This modus operandi has defined warfare ranging from today’s Russian Wagner operation in Ukraine to the US deployment of Blackwater in Iraq.

Russia has admitted that they have given Wagner nearly $1 billion in the last year while at the same time denying the group’s legal existence. Another example is the failed Venezuelan coup in 2020 which was organized by Silvercorp USA, something that has been denied by the US.

Founded by neo-Nazi Dmitry Utkin and Prigozhin, Wagner says it has deployed 78,000 troops in Ukraine and suffered 66,000 casualties. Wagner’s total forces in Ukraine added up to over a quarter of the 300,000 extra troops the Russian MOD said it enlisted last year for the war.

Guns for hire is the preferred warfare strategy of imperialist states. The US used contractors with a 1:1 ratio with US troops during the Iraq war’s peak in 2008, where the Blackwater PMC gained infamy for its war crimes.

A survivor of a mass killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007 by Blackwater PMC recounted the haunting memories of the massacre in Baghdad.

Eight times as many US contractors have died than US troops in the Middle East since 2001, according to a 2020 Boston University Study. Half of the Pentagon’s $842 billion budget goes to “defense” contractors.

PMCs often cash in on the deposits of the country where they operate, such as Wagner’s export of billions of dollars of Sudanese gold, unlisted on official gold exports to Russia.

With imperial rivalries spilling over, PMCs are looking to a profitable future. It is estimated that the global PMC market will be valued at $457.3 billion by 2030.

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