PHOTO: Russian contractors in Syria, autumn 2013
Up to nine Russian contractors died in October when a mortar round hit Moscow’s main base in western Syria, according to sources who have spoken to The Wall Street Journal.
The Russian Government has not acknowledged the deaths, but three people “familiar with the matter” told the Journal about the incident.
“It’s one of Russia’s first attempts at trying to create a private military company like what was Blackwater,” said one of the sources, Ivan Konovalov, director of a Moscow-based security think tank and a consultant to lawmakers trying to create the legal basis for the contracting companies.
The contractors belonged to a private group called OSM, based in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. It is known informally as Wagner after the nom de guerre of its leader, a former military intelligence officer who has served in several conflicts since 1991.
The men were reportedly protecting infrastructure at the base. It is uncertain whether they had a role in battlefield operations, although OSM was said to have operated T-90 tanks and howitzers.
Before its involvement in Syria, OSM operated in eastern Ukraine, where its personnel protected factories and pro-Russian rebel leaders.
The three sources said OSM, which had about 1,000 men at the base near Syria’s main airport in Latakia Province, was withdrawn after its camp was hit by a rebel mortar shell.
OSM’s leader in Syria was a member of another group, Slavonic Corps, which was disbanded after one of its members was killed in the country.
See Syria Special: The Tragi-Comedy of the Failed Mission of Russia’s Military Contractors For Assad
