Russian mercenaries attack US soldiers

[FaxModem1]

Newsweek

‘A TOTAL F***-UP’: RUSSIAN MERCENARIES IN SYRIA LAMENT U.S. STRIKE THAT KILLED DOZENS

Recordings have emerged in which Russian mercenaries subjected to a joint U.S. strike that killed dozens of their comrades describe the incident as “a total fuck-up.”

Polygraph.info, a Voice of America project, published three recordings, which it received from a source close to the Kremlin. The source said that the recorded phone calls were made by personnel from CHVK Wagner, a Russian private military company.


The incident in question occurred on the night and early morning of Feb. 7-8, when Syrian government forces—backed by Russian mercenaries employed by CHVK Wagner—attempted to capture an oil refinery near the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor. After Russian personnel came into contact with American troops stationed there, the U.S. forces responded with artillery and air strikes.

Polygraph.info transcribed and translated the conversations recorded.

In the first audio clip, a man says “one squadron fucking lost 200 people …right away, another one lost 10 people… and I don’t know about the third squadron but it got torn up pretty badly, too... So three squadrons took a beating.”

The man explains that American forces used artillery and helicopter gunships to repel the assault. “They were all shelling the holy fuck out of it and our guys didn’t have anything besides the assault rifles… nothing at all, I'm not even talking about shoulder-fired SAMs or anything like that… they tore us to pieces, put us through hell,” he says.


The speaker is also critical of the Russian government’s response to the incident, saying, “They beat our asses like we were little pieces of shit... but our fucking government will go in reverse now and nobody will respond or anything and nobody will punish anyone for this.”

"My guys just called me, they are sitting there drinking, many are MIA, it's a total fuck-up, another humiliation... nobody gives a fuck about us."

In a second clip, a man explains that the battle quickly descended into a massacre as the Russians lost all armored support. “Out of all vehicles only one tank survived and one BRDM (Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle) after the attack, all other BRDMs and tanks were destroyed in the first minutes of the fight, right away.”


‘A TOTAL F***-UP’: RUSSIAN MERCENARIES IN SYRIA LAMENT U.S. STRIKE THAT KILLED DOZENS
BY DAVID BRENNAN ON 2/23/18 AT 11:46 AM
WORLD
SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
US MILITARY
RUSSIA
RUSSIAN MILITARY

Recordings have emerged in which Russian mercenaries subjected to a joint U.S. strike that killed dozens of their comrades describe the incident as “a total fuck-up.”

Polygraph.info, a Voice of America project, published three recordings, which it received from a source close to the Kremlin. The source said that the recorded phone calls were made by personnel from CHVK Wagner, a Russian private military company.


The incident in question occurred on the night and early morning of Feb. 7-8, when Syrian government forces—backed by Russian mercenaries employed by CHVK Wagner—attempted to capture an oil refinery near the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor. After Russian personnel came into contact with American troops stationed there, the U.S. forces responded with artillery and air strikes.

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GettyImages-855556236
A US military convoy drives on a Syrian highway on September 29, 2017
BULENT KILIC/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


Polygraph.info transcribed and translated the conversations recorded.

In the first audio clip, a man says “one squadron fucking lost 200 people …right away, another one lost 10 people… and I don’t know about the third squadron but it got torn up pretty badly, too... So three squadrons took a beating.”

The man explains that American forces used artillery and helicopter gunships to repel the assault. “They were all shelling the holy fuck out of it and our guys didn’t have anything besides the assault rifles… nothing at all, I'm not even talking about shoulder-fired SAMs or anything like that… they tore us to pieces, put us through hell,” he says.


The speaker is also critical of the Russian government’s response to the incident, saying, “They beat our asses like we were little pieces of shit... but our fucking government will go in reverse now and nobody will respond or anything and nobody will punish anyone for this.”

"My guys just called me, they are sitting there drinking, many are MIA, it's a total fuck-up, another humiliation... nobody gives a fuck about us."

In a second clip, a man explains that the battle quickly descended into a massacre as the Russians lost all armored support. “Out of all vehicles only one tank survived and one BRDM (Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle) after the attack, all other BRDMs and tanks were destroyed in the first minutes of the fight, right away.”


GettyImages-847679880
Russian forces have been sent to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The Kremlin has denied that any of those killed on February 7-8 were Russian service members
DOMINIQUE DERDA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

In the third clip, a man can be heard explaining the Russian convoy was a few hundred meters away from target when the American forces raised their flag and hit the Russians with a heavy artillery barrage, wiping out the first column instantly. “We got our fucking asses beat rough, the Yankees made their point," he said. "What were they hoping for, that the Yankees are just going to fuck off?... It's bullshit, some people can't even be fucking ID'ed , too many people there."

In another of the clips, a man claims “there are about 215 fucking killed” on the Russian side.

It has been reported that up to 300 Russians may have died in the strikes. The Kremlin initially denied all reports of Russians being involved in the incident. However, in recent days, Russia’s foreign ministry has acknowledged that “several dozen” Russians were killed or wounded.

A foreign ministry report said, “Russian service members did not take part in any capacity and Russian military equipment was not used.” It said those involved were “Russian citizens” who were in Syria “of their own free will and for different reasons.”

So, do we count this as Russia unofficially declaring war on the US? Trying to get away with things it can't? Or something else?

[Zaune]

It's just as likely to be a massive cock-up arising from a mutual misunderstanding and someone overreacting, but I'm guessing Russia's not going to be especially happy about how this looks, even if they were only mercenaries.

[Thanas]

It is just an incident in a proxy war which nobody really wants to accept blame or credit for, so nothing will happen.

[Crazedwraith]

The title seems to have this backwards if a US strike killed Russians.

[Block]

The title seems to have this backwards if a US strike killed Russians.

From the article it looks like the Russians attacked a US (or possibly US ally) held position and got hammered in response. Title seems accurate.

[Tribble]

The title seems to have this backwards if a US strike killed Russians.

Judging from the article it sounds like the Russian mercs were preparing to attack and seize the refinery, either didn't expect Americans to be there or believed they would withdraw (the ladder seems more likely given one of the comments) then got curb stomped.

Maybe the title should read "Russian mercs attack oil refinery, gets slaughtered by US soldiers."

Edit: Block beat me to it

[Ralin]

From the article it looks like the Russians attacked a US (or possibly US ally) held position and got hammered in response. Title seems accurate.

The Syrian-government with Russian allies in tow tried to attack a position in Syria that turned out to have American troops stationed there and a bunch of the Russians and presumably an unspecified number of Syrians were killed for it by the Americans.

I guess that qualifies as them attacking US troops, but I'm not seeing how the Russians are especially in the wrong here. Personally I think the fact the part about US troops preventing the Syrian government from taking control of an oil refinery in Syria stands out a whole lot more.

[The Romulan Republic]

Both Russia and the US are playing with fire here, but let's not use one's faults to excuse the other.

I am so fucking sick of whataboutism, especially when (as is often the case) it is employed in defense of the Putin regime or its despotic proxies.

[tezunegari]

Did I read this correctly?
Some russian mercenaries assisted syrian troops in attacking a position held by american troops and got their asses bombed into shredded cheese by US Artillery and gunships?
And the same mercenaries are now crying to mommy that the bad americans used the age old american strategy of "There's no such thing as overkill" against them?

What the fuck did they expect? They are mercenaries. They get paid to risk their lifes like this.

[The Romulan Republic]

Another interesting detail:

The guy who these mercenaries work for is one of the Putin-aligned Russian oligarchs indicted by Mueller:

https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/22/s ... ps-russia/

Some highlights:

A Russian oligarch believed to control the Russian mercenaries who attacked U.S. troops and their allies in Syria this month was in close touch with Kremlin and Syrian officials in the days and weeks before and after the assault, according to U.S. intelligence reports.

In intercepted communications in late January, the oligarch, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, told a senior Syrian official that he had "secured permission" from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a "fast and strong" initiative that would take place in early February.

Prigozhin made front-page headlines last week when he was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of bankrolling and guiding a long-running Russian scheme to conduct "information warfare" during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

Which raises the question of weather, since he ordered an attack on US troops, individuals caught colluding with him could be open to treason charges.

[Block]

From the article it looks like the Russians attacked a US (or possibly US ally) held position and got hammered in response. Title seems accurate.

The Syrian-government with Russian allies in tow tried to attack a position in Syria that turned out to have American troops stationed there and a bunch of the Russians and presumably an unspecified number of Syrians were killed for it by the Americans.

I guess that qualifies as them attacking US troops, but I'm not seeing how the Russians are especially in the wrong here. Personally I think the fact the part about US troops preventing the Syrian government from taking control of an oil refinery in Syria stands out a whole lot more.

It 100% qualifies, and if you don't see how opening fire on a position occupied by our troops puts them in the wrong, you're trying not to. A bunch of hired thugs tried to step into the big leagues and got their asses shot off. Good.

[Ralin]

What the fuck did they expect? They are mercenaries. They get paid to risk their lifes like this.

Presumably they weren't paid to be happy about it.

It 100% qualifies, and if you don't see how opening fire on a position occupied by our troops puts them in the wrong, you're trying not to. A bunch of hired thugs tried to step into the big leagues and got their asses shot off. Good.

Just so we're clear, you're saying that the United States military has more right to occupy a Syrian oil refinery than the Syrian government and its allies has to take over said refinery?

[Block]

I'm saying that the Syrian government has official ways of contacting the US and requesting that they relinquish control of the oil rig. I haven't seen any evidence that said request happened or that the Russians were operating with Syrian nationals present. And that regardless of rights of possession, the second US forces come under fire, they have the right to self defense.

[The Romulan Republic]

I can't speak for Block, but I don't think that the US government has a right to occupy a Syrian oil refinery. I've always questioned the practical wisdom of US troops in Syria in any case, mostly because I don't think its worth risking WWIII over.

I also don't think the Assad regime has a right to occupy anything, however- in my opinion, governments forfeit legitimacy when they mass-murder their own civilians. So I'm not exactly crying for the poor war criminals who bit off more than they could chew.

[Raj Ahten]

This is why it sucks to be a mercenary sometimes. They are used because they can die and no one will give a damn. Meanwhile the Syrian civil war just enters another phase with no end in sight. I gotta wonder what the US plan is. Occupy parts of syria forever? Leave in a month and let Turkey attempt to roll up the Kurds? Frankly I don't think there really is any plan after killing ISIS.

[Raw Shark]

If the Americans "raised their flag" right before opening fire, wouldn't that presumably mean that they weren't identifying themselves before that? The mercs may have had no idea whatsoever that they were approaching American forces, as opposed to Syrians.

[Pelranius]

What happens next depends on how much the Wagner Group is a front for the Russian special forces and intelligence.

[TheFeniX]

If the Americans "raised their flag" right before opening fire, wouldn't that presumably mean that they weren't identifying themselves before that? The mercs may have had no idea whatsoever that they were approaching American forces, as opposed to Syrians.

Ok, so way back, I talked to some "grunt" buddies of mine from back during the Iraq and Afgan war. I recall one of them mentioning their forces don't leave a flag up when they are occupying something of significance in a given area. Like, their base: sure, flags fly 100%. But if they were setup shop in an existing structure, they don't do that because it means "we own this now" and for PR reasons they didn't want to do that. They only fly the colors when shit could or is about to go down so they identify themselves.

I cannot in any way back up the veracity of this.

EDIT: Though I do find it funny (in a shitty way) if what you're saying is true, they were expecting to stomp some bunny rabbits and instead ran into Godzilla based on their accounts of how well it went./EDIT

I also can't add much to this thread. I feel shitty, but I also like (and laughed hard at these) first-hand account of "boots on ground" soldiers (even if mercs). Because they have none of that.... camera presence. They don't hold anything back. "We got fucked really hard here." We somehow expect young men given a gun and sent halfway across the world to act like the paragons of morality, when if you catch them on a normal day, they talk like they're working a shitty 9-5, as they should. And we get... mad? when it turns out these guys getting paid to have their asses shot off act like normal kids during this time?

I have never understood this. Especially since we tried using them as a policing force and they have zero training in this. Or at least they had zero at the time most of my buds were in the military.

[Elheru Aran]

Not raising the flag is as much a tactical thing as a PR thing. You don't want to immediately make your new forward base a big target for the other guys, after all.

It's also not unusual historically, though it was always more of a naval thing than land army. Running up the national flag at the last minute for element of surprise, all that.

[applejack]

Officially, the Russian government says it was responding to reports of militants in the area. But one outlet said the mercenaries were aiding elements of the Assad regime to retake the oil fields

The Defense Post

UPDATED: More than 200 Russians may have been killed in Coalition strikes against ‘pro-regime’ forces in Syria
Anna Varfolomeeva February 10, 2018

[Editor’s note: This story was updated on February 12, 2018 with additional information about the origin of the audio and identities of some of the men reported killed; on February 13, 2018 to include a video released by U.S. Central Command; and on February 14, 2018 to include information about the circumstances of the attack.]

As many as 215 Russian citizens may have been killed earlier this week by the Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Ezzor, according to information shared on Russian social media.

The U.S.-led Coalition against Islamic State said on Thursday that it responded to an “unprovoked attack” on a well-established SDF headquarters by forces aligned with the Syrian regime.

Military officials said Coalition aircraft including F-22A Raptors, MQ-9B Reapers, F-15E Strike Eagles, AC-130 gunships, U.S. Army Apache helicopters and U.S. Marine artillery ground forces engaged the pro-regime fighters.

A February 10 post on Russian social networking service VKontakte says 253 Russians were sent into a fight near Deir Ezzor, and 196 of them died in the attack. The force consisted of Russian Special Operations Forces alongside Russians employed by private military contractor PMC Wagner, equipped with artillery and tanks.

The Coalition and SDF attack lasted for four hours. The engagement began with artillery strikes, followed by Lockheed AC-130 Spectre and helicopter attacks.

“The wounded are already in Russia, most of them in serious condition. The injuries are terrible. Many have horribly mutilated faces and head injuries. Almost all have either lost their limbs or have them terribly wounded. We are not going to guess how many of them will stay alive, hoping for the best,” the post reads, noting that it is impossible to identify those who have been killed.

Audio recordings detail Russian casualties
Audio recordings of phone calls made by unidentified men have circulated on WhatsApp. The calls purport to describe the circumstances of the attack.

“I just called the guys. They formed a column and they didn’t make it to the position … some 300-700 meters to the position. One platoon went ahead, but the column wasn’t moving,” a man says, using a lot of expletives. “Those [forces] raised the American flag, and the artillery started hitting them hard, and then choppers arrived…”

According to the man, the SDF then began firing artillery at the column, and 200-215 people died in the assault.

“Look, 177 killed – that is just the Fifth Company. The Second remained basically intact. The Fifth one was all destroyed,” a different man says in a separate recording. “The guys had no chances.”

He blamed the attack on “the Kurds and the Americans.”

Mark Feygin, a Russian lawyer and politician who served as a deputy of the State Duma in 1994-1995, seemed to corroborate the account. Feygin tweeted on Saturday that, according to an individual in touch with PMC Wagner, the number of contractors who died east of the Euphrates river has reached 215.

However, Roman Saponkov, a Russian reporter in Syria, said that PMC Wagner lost 20-25 fighters, and questioned the veracity of information shared about the incident.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has not mentioned any Russian casualties in its statements.

“A pro-government militia unit, conducting surveillance and research activities near the al-Isba oil refinery (17 kilometers southeast of the Salhiyah settlement) to eliminate a militant group shelling the positions of government troops, was shelled with mortars and multiple-launch rocket systems,” the defense ministry said.

“The attack was followed by an air raid by the U.S.-led Coalition’s helicopters. As a result, 25 Syrian militiamen suffered wounds,” it added.

Update February 12

The audio recordings of phone calls were originally posted on the Telegram channel WarGonzo. The channel is run by former Life News war correspondent Semyon Pegov.

Another Russian military correspondent, Aleksandr Kots, who is with Komsomolskaya Pravda, wrote on his Telegram account Kotsnews that he had received the recordings from his own sources on Friday.

There were many theories of where the recordings have originated, ranging from “this can be a provocation by ISIS” to “it’s all made up by Ukrainians.”

The latter version was “supported” by the fact that Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, a Russian army veteran who played key roles in the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine, wrote multiple posts about the incident on his VKontakte page. Strelkov said there were hundreds of people injured and killed in the attack, with up to 644 people dead, according to some sources he himself doubted.

“I’m 100 percent sure in the defeat of the PMC,” he later wrote, noting that he received the information from “several channels” in Syria.

After publishing the recordings, Pegov wrote that the floodgate was opened and his military sources began sending him more information.

“Artillery was unable to help the destroyed Wagner column not without reason – it was attacked by the U.S. drones almost immediately and disabled. The guys had almost no chances, after artillery fire the remnants of the column were hit from helicopters,” he wrote quoting anonymous participants in the fight.

On Monday, Conflict Intelligence Team released four names of people who died in the Deir Ezzor attack: Alexey Ladygin from the Russian city of Ryazan, Stanislav Matveev and Igor Kosoturov from Asbest, and Vladimir Loginov, born in Khabarovsk.

The Baltic Cossack Union announced Loginov’s death on their website on Monday. The organization has a 25-year history and has been celebrated by Russian authorities.

Kirill Ananyev, a member of the unregistered Other Russia party, has become the fifth person known to have died near Deir Ezzor. Information on his death was published on Monday on the party’s VKontakte page.

Update February 13:

U.S. Central Command on Tuesday released a video of one of the strikes.

The video is captioned: “Syrian Democratic forces acted in self defense with support from the Coalition to defeat an unprovoked Syrian pro-regime forces attack in eastern Syria late Feb. 7 and early Feb. 8, 2018.”

Update February 14

Another member of the unregistered Other Russia party has disappeared in Syria, party chairman Eduard Limonov wrote on his LiveJournal page on Wednesday.

“One more of our National Bolsheviks disappeared in Syria, cannot get in touch [with him]. We hope he will be found,” Limonov wrote, adding that the death of Russian citizens in the country was the result of a “betrayal.”

“It was not only PMC Wagner that was there, there were people from four PMCs, but the names [of the PMCs] will not add anything to your understanding [of the situation]. There were about two Companies there. They were really heading toward an oil field. But they were betrayed,” he added.

Limonov said all the people were experienced fighters who had participated in wars, “professionals,” and noted that it was still hard to say how many people actually died.

“Russian authorities did not send them there. In this case, Russian authorities bear irreparable damage to their reputation. That’s why they went far into defense. Our Ministry of Defense did not send them under fire either. They were betrayed by one of their own,” he argued.

Alexander Averin, another member of the Other Russia party and its spokesman, told The Defense Post that the National Bolshevik who disappeared served along with Kirill Ananyev, information about whose death was shared on Monday.

“In Syria, we are trying to reconnect with another National Bolshevik – he was in the same ‘Vesna/Karpaty [Spring/Carpathians]’ assault detachment as Kirill Ananyev. What happened to him is still unknown,” he said.

According to Averin, the wounded in the fight have been brought to Russia.

“I can confirm the arrival of the wounded from Syria in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In particular, in the hospitals of Burdenko and Vishnevsky. I am not ready to comment on their numbers, partially for ethical reasons – not all the relatives have been informed,” he said.

Meanwhile, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Wednesday that the reports of mass casualties were not true.

“Reports on hundreds, dozens fatalities in Syria disseminated by some Western media outlets are classic misinformation,” the source said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant, however, that it is probing the incident.

“We are now checking the information on the victims, including CIS citizens. If the information is confirmed, we will surely publish it,” the ministry said.

According to the outlet’s source in the Russian military, the incident took place because local “big businessmen currently supporting Bashar Assad” attempted to seize oil and gas fields controlled by the Kurds.

The descriptions of the wounds sound pretty horrible...

[Broomstick]

War wounds, in general, are pretty horrible.

Sounds like the mercenaries walked into a situation that was a lot more than they anticipated. Which is a risk in war. I'm not heartless, I hate to see anyone get their shit blown up, but on a certain basic level that is what war is: people getting horribly killed and wounded.

[Alyrium Denryle]

War wounds, in general, are pretty horrible.

Sounds like the mercenaries walked into a situation that was a lot more than they anticipated. Which is a risk in war. I'm not heartless, I hate to see anyone get their shit blown up, but on a certain basic level that is what war is: people getting horribly killed and wounded.

Honestly... they're fucking mercenaries. They don't sign up to do mercenary work out of a sense of civic duty that just so happens to sometimes involve killing people for what they think is the good of their own country (sometimes it works out that way [Edit: for actual soldiers], sometimes not). They sign up to kill people for the highest bidder, an they are not even notionally bound to a code of military justice or even really international law. Fuck em. Right in the ear.

Personally I think the fact the part about US troops preventing the Syrian government from taking control of an oil refinery in Syria stands out a whole lot more.

An oil refinery is a strategic asset. Period. If you're fighting a war, you try to hold the stategic assets. As for the US government vs the Syrian government... you do recall that the Syrian government is a brutal dictatorship that started butchering its own civilian population for protesting during a drought, and started deliberately committing war crimes (Sarin gas attacks on their own civilians) almost immediately, right?

Say what you will about how wise US involvement is, let's not pretend the Assad regime has any fucking legitimacy at all.

[K. A. Pital]

Mercs die, big deal. Even Baathist troops probably worth more sympathy than mercs.