16:15, 9 October 2017

Insiders report thousands of Russian mercenaries in Syria

War in Syria. Photo: REUTERS/Erik De Castro

According to participants of the hostilities in Syria, the number of mercenaries from the private military company "Wagner's PMC" killed in September battles may be "much higher" than 12 people whose dead bodies were delivered to Rostov-on-Don on September 28, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reports today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 28, 12 coffins were delivered to the Rostov airport and addressed to an agent of the "Wagner's PMC". This was reported on October 6 by a woman who knew Cossack Roman Zabolotniy, executed by militants in Syria.

Roman Zabolotniy, a native of the Rostov Region, and Grigory Tsurkanu, another executed Russian citizen, were contract fighters of the private military company "Wagner's PMC", and on September 28, they were captured after the retreat of the government troops of Syria, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reported October 5.

According to a newspaper's source, given the intensity of the battles "the number of the killed fighters can be much higher."

The total number of "volunteer Slavs" fighting on the side of the Syrian government troops is approximately several thousands of people, the "Novaya Gazeta" reports with reference to three independent sources, including an officer from the Syrian military intelligence service, an officer from the General Staff of the Russian Army, and a member of the headquarters for the "Wagner's PMC".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.