New Eastern Outlook
Ulson Gunnar
March 22, 2014
Recent rumors of notorious Blackwater US mercenaries operating inside of Ukraine invoked a plausible narrative so convincing even news outlets across the West began echoing it.
UK’s Daily Mail article “Has
Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries ‘seen
on the streets of flashpoint city’ as Russia claims 300 hired guns have
arrived in country” stated “a Russian diplomat in Kiev told the
Interfax news agency on Wednesday that 300 employees of private security
companies had arrived there.”
The article continued by stating, “‘These
are soldiers of fortune proficient in combat operations. Most of them
had operated under private contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other
states,” the source said. Interfax reported that the diplomat did not disclose the nationalities of the mercenaries but said, ‘Most of them come from the United States’.”
An accompanying video showed
unidentified armed men running through the streets of the eastern
Ukrainian city of Donetsk, however it appeared unrelated to the claims
made by the Russian diplomat.
