Mercenaries from ex-USSR in Africa

Mercenary activity in the former Eastern Bloc was a consequence of the difficult economic situation and reductions in the armed forces after the collapse of the USSR. Some of the military went abroad to work. Many ended up in war zones in Africa. The most numerous among all were groups of military adventurers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Serbia.

The influx of specialists from the former Soviet Union gave rise to a drop in prices for the services of mercenaries (former soviet military asked for fewer western specialists).

There was a demand for specialists in the operation of military equipment, especially soviet equipment, of which there were quite a lot on the continent.

French mercenary Bob Denard highly appreciated the activities of natives of the post-Soviet republics in the role of military adventurers. However, according to the mercenary, they had disadvantages — poor knowledge of foreign languages and the lack of special offices that would send trained groups to Africa.