Private accident

In Syria, another mercenary from Vagner's PMC, a native of Tomsk Nikolai Tikhonovich, was killed. This is reported by users of social networks.

It is reported that Tikhonovich was killed on December 21 in the Khama-Dilib area, where there are now battles between rebels and government troops. “Given the fierce of the fighting, reports will soon go about other losses of Russian citizens in this meaningless war for us,” said political scientist Anatoly Nesmiyan (writes in social networks under the pseudonym El Murid).

Tikhonovich was born in October 1992. Despite his youth, he already managed to take part in the conflict in the Donbass on the side of the separatists. It was included in the list of the Ukrainian site "Peacemaker", which contains personal data of the militants of the DPR and the LPR, as well as their accomplices. It is noted that Tikhonov was a cadet of the Tomsk military-patriotic club "Rus".

To date, the death of 45 Russian military has been officially recognized during the operation in Syria, but the loss of PMCs are not included in this figure. Former "Minister of Defense" of the DPR Igor Girkin, citing a former mercenary who fought in Syria, reported that up to 60 mercenaries of Wagner were killed in the country only in the last week of September and early October.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed legalizing the activities of Russian private military companies . “I think that here you need to clearly fix the legislative framework for these people (militants of Russian PMCs. - Ed.) Also in the legal field and are protected,” the minister said. Lavrov noted that the practice of using PMCs by various countries "spreads".

The head of the Foreign Ministry added that Russia still did not establish the whereabouts of the PMC of the PMC Wagner Roman Zabolotnaya and Grigory Tsurkan, who were captured by the Islamic State. “The collection and rechecking of the relevant information is primarily engaged in our military,” he emphasized. Earlier it was reported that Wagner's company has already announced the death of mercenaries.

Now in Russia several private military organizations are unofficially operating. Russian mercenaries participated in aggression against Ukraine, and now they are fighting in Syria. It is also known about the possible sending of militants in Russian PMCs to Sudan to participate in the civil war in this country on the side of the dictator Omar al-Bashira. Currently, the activities of PMCs in Russia are illegal - it falls under Article 359 of the Criminal Code (mercenary).

Back in 2012, President Vladimir Putin proposed creating a system of private military companies in Russia. The head of state called PMC "an instrument of realization of national interests without the direct participation of the state."