MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. The personnel of private military companies, including in Syria, are not officially representing the Russian state, President of Russia Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Following his annual televised Q&A session on Thursday, Putin was asked about why Russia was not conferring the status of a veteran of combat operations on those who are sent to Syria as members of private military companies.
"As for private companies, particularly, private security firms and their hired personnel that you have mentioned here - and they are, indeed, present there - this is not the Russian state and they are not participants in combat operations," Putin said.
As the Russian president said, these personnel "are dealing with economic issues related to economic activity, such as oil extraction and the development of deposits."
"We certainly acknowledge that even in the process of dealing with these national economic tasks and problems, these people are risking their lives and, by and large, this is also contribution to the war on terror because they are defending these deposits against militants of the Islamic State [a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia]," Putin stated.
"But this has nothing to do either with the Russian state or the Russian army and, therefore, we do not comment on this subject," the Russian president added.