MOSCOW, April 8 (RIA Novosti) – The deployment of mercenaries by the US-based private company Greystone to southern regions in Ukraine is a continuation of Washington’s interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs, Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the Russian National Defense magazine told RIA Novosti.
The dispatch of Greystone soldiers to Ukraine may be financed by Ukrainian oligarchs and organized in coordination with the US State Department, Korotchenko explains.
“Thus, we are talking about the continuation of the US policy of military intervention in Ukraine and a preparatory stage for a massacre in southeastern Ukraine,” the expert said.
“Considering that Ukraine’s security services have shown their obvious incompetence, foreign mercenaries are supposed to suppress the protests in the southeastern part of the country,” Korotchenko added.
According to the editor, Greystone is one of the biggest private security companies in the West and is closely associated with US intelligence agencies. The agency is used in situations when the deployment of US security forces is inappropriate, he said.
Mercenaries working for Greystone are notable for their “cruelty in combat missions” so they won’t have any problems “mopping-up” southeastern Ukraine, Korotchenko said.
Greystone is a private security company registered in Barbados, according to open sources. It boasts "protective security and training solutions to customers in challenging environments.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier voiced concerns over the buildup of Ukrainian forces in the southeastern part of the country involving some 150 American mercenaries from Greystone, dressed in uniforms of the Ukrainian special task police unit Sokol. Moscow called this move a violation of Ukrainian law.
In February, the Ukrainian parliament backed by far-right movements ousted from power President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the constitution and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25.
Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification with Crimea.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has railed against attempts by the West to justify the actions of the neo-Nazis and their accomplices and called on the US and EU to condemn the extremists.
