Situation Reports - October 16, 2024 By Eric J. Uribe Russian use of hard power has been displayed on the global stage for nearly 20 years. Since the invasion of Georgia in 2008 and subsequent invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s apparent tool of choice in foreign policy has been military action and coercion through force. With the appearance of “little green men” in Crimea in 2014, the use of deniable means by the Russian government signaled a shift in the methods by which it sought to further its national interests. Among these methods, the Russian private military company (PMC) or сhastnaya voyennaya kompaniya (ЧВК) has grown in utility and effectiveness to achieve the objectives of the Russian government. The most overt actions of Russian PMCs often correlate with hard-power applications such as the use of Wagner PMC in combat for strategic cities in Ukraine and its use in Donbass in 2014-15. However, PMCs have become more than just a hammer for battlefield operations; they
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