A Ukraine Foreign Legion?

A Ukraine Foreign Legion?

Gary Anderson

Vladimir Putin is very confident that he can create a puppet state in the eastern Ukraine. So far, the United States and NATO have proven to be enablers of that ambition. By ruling out direct military intervention and counting on sanctions, which Putin obviously feels he can ride out, the west has built him a big sand box in which to to play. The Ukrainian Army is underequipped and frankly not very good. By arming separatist militias and backing them up with thinly disguised Russian troops when they underperform, the Russian leader sees very little cost in continuing his adventures as he is riding high popularity ratings. The tepid response of the western powers is not just a failure of leadership; it is a failure of imagination. There are other options available to make Putin pay a price.

Although it has not hit the front pages in the west, Russian Army “volunteers” have begun coming home in boxes, and some of the mothers are upset. It is a small protest, but it is a start. We need to remember that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was popular until Americans started dying in large numbers in a seemingly open ended war. Perhaps it is time to counter Putin’s surrogate war with one of our own. The west has the option of funding a volunteer group of skilled veterans under Ukrainian control and arming them with state of the art precision guided munitions to begin plinking Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery. Once skilled snipers start picking off the eager Russian speaking volunteers that the separatists employ, they may become much less enthusiastic; war becomes a lot less fun when somebody that knows what he is doing is shooting back.

Maintaining legions of non-native troops is not new. France and Spain still maintain Foreign Legions; why not the Ukraine? The United States is no stranger to such approaches. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the Americans funded and equipped a group of flyers called the American Volunteer Group to assist the Chinese in their war against a Japanese invasion. The “Flying Tigers” gave the Japanese fits. These organizations are well within the laws of warfare if they wear uniforms and act as part of a nation-state’s armed forces.

The United States and most NATO nations have scores of veterans who operated as contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, Many are now unemployed or underemployed with the wind down of those conflicts. Operating in hunter-killer teams in eastern Ukraine, a foreign legion would give teeth to Ukraine’s armed forces that they presently lack. Faced with a real war and the casualties that one entails, Putin and his surrogates would have something to think seriously about in pursuing their present course. The Russians would loudly complain about the use of “foreign mercenaries”, but that would be a case of the pot calling the kettle unkind names. A Ukrainian Foreign Legion would be on solid ground legally while the Russian actions are not. A sovereign state has the right to defend itself and all of the legal precedents are in place for the Ukraine.

The last time the United States resorted to arming a resistance group against Russian aggression was Afghanistan. Although successful in the short run, the effort backfired long term as some of the more radical Afghan resistance fighters turned their guns against us in the guise of al Qaeda. We found that waging irregular warfare can be a two edged sword. That is a good argument for keeping surrogates under state sponsored control. State sponsored foreign legions can be called off when the other side decides to stop fighting and start talking; non-state militias are not so easy to rein in.

At the present time, neither the Ukraine nor the western powers have much leverage in the Ukrainian civil war. A Ukrainian Foreign Legion could well give the Russians and their pet Russian speaking Ukrainian militias pause to think about pursuing political, vice military, solutions to their differences with the legal Ukrainian government. The alternative of giving lethal aid to the Ukrainian republic will take time and training even if the west decides to render such aid. In the meantime, if his surrogates get in trouble, Putin can send in regular Russian reinforcements in mufti very quickly; eventually, we will have a fait accompli and Putin a whetted appetite. A Ukrainian Foreign Legion might save Russia from its own folly, and if it works we might try it in Iraq.