Russia Won't Give Mercenaries a Pass: "You're Going to Be a Target"

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Earl Rasmussen spoke with Sputnik about Russia’s targeting of several French mercenary fighters in Kharkov Tuesday, warning that people thinking about freelancing for the Ukrainian military should expect to be treated the same as homegrown fighters.

“I think this follows through with what Russia's said all along,” said the international consultant on military affairs who spent over 20 years in the US Army. “Early on they said if there were mercenaries or foreign fighters, they were going to treat them as combatants. And I think this just reinforces that.”

Rasmussen recounted the story of one British fighter who was released by the Russians, only to later return to battle against them. “He was captured, he got traded, and they worked out an arrangement. He got released and traded, and now he's back. He's back over in the fighting with the Ukrainians again.”

In 2022 two British mercenaries Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were captured by the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), where they faced criminal charges. They were later released, and more recently have become part of Western propaganda efforts against Russia and the DPR.

“I think it [Tuesday’s attack] just clearly establishes the signal and that if you're going to volunteer, if you're going to be part of the Ukrainian force, you need to be considered that you're going to be treated as a combatant, and there shouldn't be any hesitation on that,” said Rasmussen. “And they need to fully realize that. And that's just basically what this is: hey, even if you're in a command center, you're potentially going to be a target.”

The former Army colonel speculated on the kinds of foreign fighters who decide to take up arms against Russia in the Donbass: “I would say there are many professionals, they may be former military. They may be pseudo military. In other words, they may be technically former, but they may still be on because sometimes we've had special operations, special forces type of people that technically go off the books… that's kind of a way to say that 'no, we don't have any active forces involved.'”

“And then you have people that are just former military,” said Rasmussen. “They're trained and they just miss combat. A lot of people have got issues when they're back home. And so it's much easier for them to stay in a combat environment emotionally. And then you've got people that just maybe are ultranationalist as well and ultra-’believe in whatever Ukraine's standing for.”

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Rasmussen speculated that there could be “another sponsor someplace” paying mercenaries given the “pittance of the pay that they're receiving from Ukraine,” but clarified he had no definitive proof.

Finally, Rasmussen commented on the media environment surrounding the confrontation in Europe and the United States, saying some mercenaries may be convinced to join Ukraine because “the propaganda is very heavy over here.” He recounted instances of talking to friends who were shocked to hear his assessment of the conflict, given the intensely Russophobic nature of media coverage in the West.

“You're getting fed what the news is telling us, which is straight from the White House, which is straight from the Ukrainian intelligence,” the expert said. “So we're getting a tainted story here. Things are censored. We don't get the full situation that's going there.”

“I think as more information becomes clear,” added Rasmussen, “that the situation is not as rosy as you're being told… perhaps you'll have second thoughts, and then when you hear about the government there in Ukraine, where there's no elections, there's no free press, there's no opposition parties, opposition leaders… the truth gets out that may cause people to have second thoughts as well. So, I think they'll have fewer volunteers.”

Rasmussen nevertheless speculated that several hundred to several thousand NATO advisors may be in Ukraine “helping fire these sophisticated weapons systems that are coming in, helping maintain them, [and] helping put together the targeting information.”