Russian Private Military and Ukraine: Hybrid Surrogate Warfare and Russian State Policy by Other Means
Journal: Central European Journal of International and Security Studies
Year: 2022

This article investigates the Russian government’s reliance on commercial soldiers in the hybrid war efforts against Ukraine until the invasion in February 2022. Russian private military companies (PMCs), such as RUSCORP and the Wagner group, have already been active in Syria and Africa over the last years, signalling the resurgence of Russian machinations on the world stage. They also played a key part in the annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as the struggles on Ukraine’s Eastern border are