Ukraine claims dozens of Russian mercenaries killed in Syria: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
12.02.2019 13:00
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims that Russia is hiding information about the deaths of dozens of its mercenaries in Syria last year, according to a report.
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The SBU has revealed what it says are the passports of 57 Russian members of the so-called Wagner group who were killed in Syria in February last year, Ukraine’s pravda.com.ua website has reported.
It cited the Ukrainian security service as saying that Russian private military contractors took part in an attack on Syrian opposition forces a year ago in an operation “directly paid for” by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a man known as “Putin’s chef.”
On February 7, 2018, more than 100 Russian mercenaries died when staging a “brutal assault on Syrian opposition forces during a truce” in Syria's Deir ez-Zor district, according to the Security Service of Ukraine as cited by pravda.com.ua.
The website quoted the SBU as saying that its findings about the death of the Wagner group mercenaries were backed up by testimony from families about the circumstances of the contractors’ death in Syria and photographs of death certificates and resting places.
According to the Reuters news agency, the so-called Wagner group is formed by private military contractors who carry out secret missions for Russia.
The contractors are mostly ex-service personnel who “have fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine,” Reuters has reported, citing "interviews with dozens of contractors, their friends and relatives."
(gs/pk)
Source: pravda.com.ua, Reuters