Is the U.S. hiring Russian Afghan war vets... and if so, why don’t they do it in cleaner Russian?
It all started as a silly rumor that somehow ended up in the Inbox of a local television reporter—Anton Volzhsky of NTV. Volzhsky, a reporter for the program Namedni, had been told that an ad had appeared on an St. Petersburg-based internet site for Afghan war veterans (www.afghanwar.spb.ru) in which the U.S. Embassy in Moscow appeared to be soliciting applications for mercenary work among Russian veterans of the war. In the "forum" section of the site, a bulletin board area in which vets post messages and ask for news about long-lost fellow soldiers, Volzhsky found the following advertisement:
Посольству США требуются молодые люди с опытом боевых действий в горах.
Требования: Удовлетворительное здоровье, физ. подготовка, англ. Язык - минимальный разговорный уровень.
Оплата высокая.
Телефон: 7-095 728-5000 Военный атташе
РЕЗЮМЕ для Военный атташе США
Факс: 7-095 728-5203
consulmo@state.gov pow/mia.moscow@dos.us-state.gov
Volzhsky checked a telephone directory and found that the number for the U.S. embassy was indeed 728-5000.
"I thought for sure it was a joke," he said. "Somebody had posted it on the site, hoping that people would call the embassy and give them a hard time. But I decided to check it out anyway."
Volzhsky wasn’t the only one to check it out. The forum page on the site immediately filled up with messages from vets, some of whom were curious about the ad, and some of whom who had called alerady. One posting reads: "I called. They’re offering $5,500 a month." Others were less credulous and didn’t even bother checking. "Bull... Shit" wrote in one visitor. The $5,500 figure caught the attention of some, however. "For that money, the Americans will always find some lovers of serious adventures... Who won’t be fighting in Afghanistan?"
Meanwhile, the site’s manager, a vet named Vladimir Grigoriev, was beginning to get inquiries from vets over the telephone about the ad. "I didn’t know anything about the ad. The forum is unmoderated, it doesn’t go through me," he said. Still, when asked if the state.gov e-mail address was the one that the ad was posted from, he said, "Yes, that’s the address I see in the inbox," he said. "Is that a real U.S. government address?"
When the eXile tried to contact that address to inquire about the ad’s origins, there was no answer—but the letter was not returned, either, meaning the address at least exists.
In any case, after Volzhsky spoke to Grigoriev, and learned that vets were indeed calling the U.S. emabssy in large numbers, he decided to try to apply for a mercenary job himself. The result was the following telephone call, an audio recording of which which Volzhsky gave to us, and an MP3 version (approx. 6 minutes, 2.7 MB) of which is available for your listening pleasure.
In the call, Volzhsky calls the number, the main number for the embassy, and asks to speak with the military attache—saying that he was calling "po obyavleniyu," or in response to an ad. He was transferred right away, first to an Erica Ross in the military attache office, and then, from there, to a Colonel Tom Raleigh, who ended up handling this amazing call.
Incidentally, when the eXile subsequently called the embassy, the military attache’s office at first told us there was no such person as Tom Raleigh in the embassy. Later, however, we spoke to Tim Standaert in the embassy press office, and he confirmed that there is such a person, and that the call actually took place.
Since the conversation was conducted in Russian, and since Raleigh’s horrific Russian is a key feature of the conversation, we decided to reprint the call in Russian, without a translation. It’s worth noting that Namedni’s own website published a transcript of the call, but that their version was neither accurate nor complete. This is the call in its entirety. There are basically two things to look for in the call: one is that Raleigh initially denies knowing anything about the ad, and secondly, that he quite clearly ends up asking Volzhsky to send a resume that includes a description of his military experience. Here it is:
Секретарь (русская): U.S. Embassy, Moscow.
A. Волжский: Але!
C: Да, здравствуйте!
АВ: Здравствуйте. Мне нужно поговорить с военным атташе.
С: Минутку!
(Гудки).
- Good afternoon. DAO Erica Ross.
АВ: Здравствуйте.Эрика Росс (сильный акцент): Здравствуйте.
АВ: С военным атташе как можно мне поговорить?
ЭР: Э-э? Извините?
АВ: С военным атташе мне нужно поговорить.
ЭР (кошмарный выговор): Э-э... Кто атташе?
АВ: Мне нужен военный атташе США. Я звоню по объявлению.
ЭР: Уи га-а-ва-а-рите па-инглийски?
АВ: М-м... A little bit.
ЭР (радостно): OK. I speak a little bit Russian. To whom do you wish to speak?
АВ: Military attache.
ЭР: Military attache... OK. Army? Navy?
АВ: I don’t know... Because I’ve read the... the message from him. It was about soldiers who was in.. in Afganistan.
ЭР: ОК. One moment, please
(пауза)
- Tom Raleigh.
АВ: М-м. Здравствуйте.
Том Рэли (сильный акцент): Здравствуйте.
АВ: Я звоню Вам по объявлению в Интернете про бывших воинов-афганцев...
ТР: Э-э... Погромче чуть-чуть, пожалуйста...
АВ: Я звоню по объявлению, которое было в Интернете, про бывших воинов-афганцев...
ТР: Угу...
АВ: ...на сайте afganwar, afganwar... афганская война.
ТР: Еще раз: какой сайт?
АВ: "Афганская война", (в отчаяньи говорит по-русски) "афган уор".
ТР: И чей это сайт?
АВ:Это наш сайт, бывших воинов-афганцев. Там было объявление...
ТР (в беспокойстве): Ваш.. ваш сайт или наш сайт?
Антон (успокаивающе): Наш, наш.
ТР (удовлетворенно): ОК
АВ: Там было объявление для тех, кто имеет опыт войны в горах, звонить военному атташе. Вот тут был дан вот этот телефон...
ТР: Угу...
АВ: ...и сказано, что оплата высокая, что резюме для военного атташе посылать... Вот я решил позвонить.
ТР: Э-э.. Вот честное слово... это... я-а... как вы сказали... я-а... реклама или...
АВ: Да-да, типа.
ТР: ...или йобъялвление...
АВ: Да.
ТР: Я ничего не знаем об этом.
АВ (разочарованно): А-а!
ТР: Это первый раз я это слышал.
АВ:А-а, да...
ТР: Я не знаю, если это... э-э... а-а... настоящий, скажем, реклама или—you know—я не знаю чей... чей это... я-а... как по-русски сказать: йабловление?
АВ: Объявление...
ТР: Объявление.
АВ: А здесь телефон: семь два восемь пять ноль ноль ноль.
ТР: Сьэм..
АВ: ...два восемь пять ноль ноль ноль Это ваш ведь телефон?
ТР: Пьять нол...
АВ: Пять ноль ноль ноль.
ТР: Это... это... это... й-это, конечно, numbera посолства...
АВ: Угу..
ТР: Безусловно. Будет... будет... будет возможно, что вы сюда к нам факсировать, скажем, страница...
АВ (деловито): Угу...
ТР: ...этого сайта...
АВ (также): Угу...
ТР: ...и тоже включается ваш-а координа-тсия...
АВ (уточняет): Мои координаты?
ТР: Да. You know, если ... you know... токо... э-э... you know... номер телефона, имя, отчество, фамилия...
АВ (деловито): Угу...
ТР: ...должность, опыт... чуть-чуть.
АВ (также): Угу...
ТР: Хорошо. Ви... ви можете это сделать?
АВ (несколько растерянно): Опыт... опыт чего? Войны?
ТР: Да.
АВ (собрался): Могу. А по како... А какой телефон?
ТР: ОК. Я вам дам... fax. Готовы?
АВ: Да
ТР: Э-э... Сьэмсот двадцат восьэм...
АВ: Угу...
ТР: ...пьят ад-ин...
АВ: Угу...
ТР: ...восьэм три.
АВ: Это ваш телефон, да?
ТР: Это... это наш факс.
АВ: А!
ТР: Да.
АВ: А для кого написать? Кому?
ТР: ОК. Thomas...
АВ: Томас...
ТР: Raleigh.
АВ: Рэли?
ТР: Да
АВ: Да. Хорошо...
ТР: Подполковник.
АВ: Хорошо...
ТР: ОК... So... Еще раз. Если это будет возможно: копий страница...
АВ: Угу...
ТР: ...э-э... в которой есть такая объявления...
АВ: Угу...
ТР: Хорошо? И тоже ваш... ваши координаты?
АВ: Угу...
ТР: ОК?
АВ: Хорошо. А вы мне позвоните тогда, да?
ТР: Да, наверно. Как вас зовут?
АВ: Антон.
ТР: Антон... (пауза). ОК. И маленький об сьебе...
АВ: Хорошо .
ТР: ОК?
АВ: Но писать про себя все или только вот про армию?
ТР: Как как вам удобно.
АВ: Много написать или нужно...
ТР: You know... обзоор... You know—олжность во время войны—you know—колько лет, гдье ви... гдье ви воевали—you know—и сейчас—you know—кем вы по профессии, и так далее.
АВ: Угу...
ТР: Не... не очень долго надо будет.
АВ: Угу...
ТР: ОК?
АВ: И я смогу действительно быть вам полезен? То есть, смогу куда-то поехать?
ТР: Еще раз?
АВ: Я смогу быть вам полезен? Смогу куда-то с вами поехать? Потому что тут написано про работу, что вы работу предлагаете...
ТР: Может быть... Об этом мы можем чуть-чуть позже поговорить. Хорошо?
АВ: Угу.
ТР: Договорились?
АВ: Хорошо. Ладно.
ТР: ОК-ОК.
АВ: Я пошлю вам факс.
ТР: ОК. Спасибо.
АВ: Ладно.
ТР: До свидания.
АВ: До свидания. (Гудки).
Volzhsky, who initially thought the ad was a joke, came away from this phone call convinced that the U.S. was actually recruiting Afghan vets. "There was no question at all, in my mind, what he was asking for," he said. "We listened to the phone call a dozen times before we went on the air with it. There was no room for a misunderstanding there." Volzhsky referred specifically to the part where Raleigh asks him to send information about "гдье ви воевали"—this was not a yes or no answer to a question prompted by Volzhsky, but Raleigh speaking in his own words.
Standaert, meanwhile, told the eXile initially that the entire thing was a lingual misunderstanding. "They just didn’t understand each other," he said cheerfully, in a voice which suggested that he found the whole thing funny and even a bit absurd. However, two days later, when the eXile actually got hold of the tape and concluded there had been no misunderstanding, we contacted Standaert again. In our judgement, we said, Raleigh was clearly asking for Volzhsky’s military credentials. Did Standaert have any idea why he might have done that?
"Zero," he said, laughing.
In any case, Volzhsky subsequently aired a short news feature about the "Verbovka" (recruitment) at the U.S. embassy, after which the embassy was indeed bombarded with calls from Afghan vets looking for work. More than a dozen ended up calling Volzhsky back to complain that the Americans weren’t hiring.
"They were complaining that the embassy was saying that they weren’t taking any more soldiers," Volzhsky said. "These guys wanted the work."
There is certainly nothing unbelievable about the prospect of Russian vets going to fight as mercenaries. According to some estimates, there are more than 10,000 Russian vets fighting as mercenaries in various parts of Africa right now. Russian mercenaries have even been observed fighting with the Chechens, who apparently pay better than the Russians themselves.
Obviously the main reason that there would be so many Russian mercenaries is the money factor: these world-class soldiers can barely earn enough to surivive in Russia, if they somehow managed to stay in the army after combat. For $5,500—more than five times what the highest-paid contract soliders in the Chechen campaign—there would certainly be plenty of applicants.
Standaert sent the eXile a copy of a press release on the matter, which flatly stated that "the advertisement... was fraudulent", and that "the United States... has not been engaged in the recruitment of Russian citizens with military experience in mountain warfare."
One would tend to believe the U.S. on this one, if only because the alternative is simply too preposterous to imagine—that the world’s dominant superpower would negotiate something as delicate as the hiring of Russian mercenaries in such a baldly incompetent manner as Raleigh appeared to be demonstrating in that phone call. The actual tape, with all of Raleigh’s pauses and stutters and English interjections (the constantly repeated "you knows"), is a piece of the highest high comedy. If it is true, then America is in serious trouble in the war in Afghanistan—with officers like these in charge, we’d likely end up bombing the wrong country, or trying to land on aircraft carriers upside down.
We were unable, however, to track down any vets who called and were accepted. Neither could we get Raleigh on the phone. We’re continuing to look into this story, and will keep you posted.
