Can We Really Assume?

The recent New York Times article "Russians Revealed Among Ukraine Fighters" By Andrew Roth and Sabrina Tavernise Documents the involvement of Russian nationals in the fighting in Crimea. Chechens were spotted on Tuesday providing security for wounded rebels at a local hospital in Crimea. At least eight of the wounded men receiving treatment at the hospital had Russian passports. While whether these Russian nationals are on unofficial orders from Moscow to aid in the skirmishes in Crimea is still questionable, the increasing visibility of the participating Russian fighters in not. Among the rebels resisting the Ukrainian army, the presence of veterans of the Chechen wars of the late 1990s and soldiers of fortune of other ethics backgrounds is an increasing occurrence.

Although Moscow has denied that any of it's regular army personal has any involvement with this conflict, some experts believe that these Russian nationals would not actively defy the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Is this really something that can be presumed wholeheartedly? Can we really assume that the will of president Putin is this powerful? That if Putin truly did not want any Russian involvement in the actual conflict fighting that every soldier of fortune of Russian heritage or allegiance would cross that potential paycheck right off their "to do" list? Is there some untold regulatory body that watches all of these Russian patriots and sell-swords to confirm they are not embarrassing the motherland? Is the scorn of the Russian Government really enough to dissuade the anonymous mercenary from the practicing of tradecraft given the opportunity? Surely there must be a faction that would rather collect income than nationalist praise.

Another noteworthy fact is that people of similar theology and ideology tend to band together when they feel persecuted by a hostile force. Not to credit or discredit the accusations of persecution of Russian cultured people by the Ukrainian government and armed forces, but if a sect of people feel their brethren are being exploited or oppressed by a larger faction they tend to come out in droves to provided support. What better support can these Chechen war veterans provided then armed protection and insurgency? It is what they have experience with after all. If the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taught us anything it should be that an official mandate is not required to cross an international border and join in the armed conflict to shed the blood of thy neighbor's enemy.