One step further towards a Russian armed reaction ? Since the videos emerged, Twitter has been alive with speculation that mercenaries linked to Blackwater, now known as Academi, are active in Ukraine, helping to prop up the embattled new pro-western government. And a Russian diplomat in Kiev told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday that 300 employees of private security companies had arrived there. These are soldiers of fortune proficient in combat operations. Most of them had operated under private contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other states, the source said. Interfax reported that the diplomat did not disclose the nationalities of the mercenaries but said, Most of them come from the United States.Asked whether the soldiers seen in the videos could be from Academi, Dr Nafeez Ahmed, a security expert with the Institute for Policy Research & Development, said: ‘Difficult to say really. Its certainly not beyond the realm of possibility - Academi have been deployed in all sorts of theatres.I think the question is whether the evidence available warrants at least reasonable speculation.‘On the face of it, the uniforms of the people in the videos are consistent with US mercs - they dont look like Russian soldiers mercs. On the other hand, why run around in public making a show of it? ’He added: ‘Of course the other possibility is its all Russian propaganda. ’Any suggestion that a U.S. mercenary outfit like Blackwater, known now as Academi, had begun operating in east Ukraine could give Russian president Vladimir Putin the pretext for a military invasion. As the armed men left the scene, suspicious bystanders could be heard yelling Blackwater! Blackwater!
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 04:19:18 +0000
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