your top stories. russian forces led by mercenaries say they have gained control of eastern ukrainian town. there denying the claim, intense fight as russia tries to gain ground. >> the terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend some part of our city almost completely destroyed by the occupiers is some kind of achievement. they will present and are

presenting this in such a way to support mobilization and give hope to those who support aggression, but the fighting continues. and we without a break even for one day do everything to strengthen the ukrainian. >> isil has claimed responsibility for a suicide explosion in the afghan capital. it was near the foreign ministry office where the chinese delegation was meeting with the taliban. flights have resumed in the u.s. after technical glitch grounded thousands of flights. the problem being blamed on a computer outage. president joe biden has ordered investigation. the u.s. secretary of state and u.s. defense secretary have signed new agreements with their japanese counterparts to expand military ties. they discuss the growing threat from china's ambitions in the region.

rebels in ethiopia is northern region have begun handing and heavy weapons to the federal army. it is part of a peace deal signed in south africa more than two month ago to and a two-year contract -- conflict. thousands of venezuelans marched in the capital demanding better wages. public health workers, teachers, and pensioners who earn between $20 and $100 a month. inflation in the south american country hit 155% last october. inside story coming up next. >> mercenaries are being used

more widely in conflicts despite a u.n. convention banning them. vladimir putin involved in intense fighting in ukraine. wire some states using mercenary forces and who is accountable for their actions? this is inside story. welcome to the program. mercenaries, or soldiers for hire, are illegal in many countries. the united nations convention against their use ratified by more than 40 nations. big military powers, including the u.s., russia, china, france, and united kingdom are not party to the agreement and some have used them extensively. mercenaries have been more active in recent conflicts. during the 2003 iraq war, the

former blackwater group supported american soldiers. the russian wagoner group is involved in some of the fiercest fighting in eastern ukraine. a discussion with our guest. tosha has more from kyiv. >> heading to the mercenary group, fighters are true patriots. for their involvement in ukraine, the opportunity to prove this. no doubt wagoner has been more high-profile, more public in recent months. the mercenaries first became involved in 2014. fighting to help pro-russian separatists in the east of the country. heavily involved in the ongoing battle. russian forces held by wagoner able to capture and control.

it is being involved in syria, libya, and is often accused of using brutal tactics at times of war crimes. >> the private wagoner group has been active in other war zones, as well. libya, syria, molly, it has been accused of war crimes sanctioned after accused of human life abuses. the u.s. also used private contractors in the past four of the former blackwater group personnel were found guilty of killing iraqi civilians in a mass shooting in 2007. but they were freed from jail in the u.s. after a pardon by then president trump. >> let's bring in our guest for today's show. in copenhagen, sorkin macleod, chair of the u.n. working group.

in oxford, samuel ramani. author of putin's war on ukraine. in amsterdam, --, assistant professor and international criminal law at the university of amsterdam. thank you all for joining us on inside story. samuel, let me start with you. russia suffered repeated setbacks on the battlefield recently. it appears with the help of mercenaries, it could be about to make some gains. talk about the role of wagoner in the conflict in ukraine. how expensive is it, and how active are the mercenaries? >> they are the largest contingent that has ever been. around 50,000 people. lifted out of the prison -- and 10,000 of them are private military contractors.

usually they are tasked with the role of being a disruptive. it was involved in some of the death squads sent to kill volodymyr zelenskyy. in more recent months, a much more active role on the front lines. now especially in the battle -- if russia wins, which ukrainians are disputing, it is the first victory the wachter group is solely responsible for. now they will be able to get access to assault mines, that are very lucrative and could help finance after negotiation spending on these going forward. it influences the highest level ever. >> speaking of financing, russia has denied wagoner had any connection with the state. the military companies are not allowed in russia. who funds the group. does it effectively function

branch definitely. military companies have been banned for a long time. of course, into the group became a much more powerful force, it was seen as the most effective fighting unit and the russian army. now it is taking credit for their successes. financing is coming from a variety of sources. minerals and extractive's. oil in libya, gold, diamonds and the african republic. as well as contracts with governments and partners they are working with. so it really comes from those sources and is self-sustaining. russia doesn't have to likely vote its defense budget to

finance activities. it is not just russia and the fact the group -- the widespread outsourcing of military and security functions has become a major phenomena in recent years. why are states increasing contracting to the private sector? what is the legal status of these private companies under international law and under the laws of armed conflict? >> for many different reasons, one particular reason is this is using it as plausible deniability. russia is saying we are not involved, or it is just a normal contract we closed. the central african even though nothing illegally is going on. armed conflict struggles with how to really determine and

categorize these types of people. a category of composites, regular armed forces, but also mercenaries. then civilians. these private military contractors escape a lot of these. i suppose the private military companies are designed to escape. -- >> are they legitimate? >> they fight very often in violation. they commit war crimes. that is very much illegal. notwithstanding which category there is. it shows an ability to deny if they are involved. if they say about not being part of this, it sounds critical russia is not part of it. the wagoner group gets 40,000 detainees.

pardon from russian prisons to fight. >> how dangerous are these mercenaries? used around the globe. what are the implications? whether it is ukraine, african central republic? >> the work is extremely concerned about the extreme use of mercenaries in conflicts, a variety of different countries around the world. it is the one getting a lot of attention. turkey, for example, being involved in the recruitment and training of mercenaries for different armed. the difficulty is when they are involved in hot conflict, they

destabilized peace process, and regions. and violated human rights. on the indiscriminate targeting on civilians. they bring a level of violence -- of course our conflict is violent, but they make it a whole new level. it is difficult to hold them to account for these statistics. >> it would appear states are increasingly engaging these mercenaries to live policy objectives. >> that would seem to be the case.

we have certainly seen their use in the conflict. he said libya and try -- multiple arms, multiple complex. this is a new development. we see the traditional idea at home for the mercenary. one from the global north to the global south. there were not very large and numbers. different numbers of them being recruited. there is another layer of problems or complexity. they are being recruited from other armed countries, conflict affected countries. large numbers of people being blessed as mercenaries from syria. sometimes it is because they

have attics -- had experiences, or because they are being coerced into coming mercenaries for economic reasons. we are not just seeing the impacts going on, they will be deployed, seeing them having an impact in countries where the eye roll wasn't ready, i'm -- hugely problematic. >> why do you think we see the reemergence of these so-called security groups. especially off of the back of -- accused of war crimes and so on. talk about the objectives of the states who hire these mercenaries. what do you think they are wanting to achieve the interesting thing was blackwater and some of the controversies

associated received a lot of backlash. jamie state media outlets getting information campaigns. ironically, they proceeded to see the value of using mercenaries for their own purposes. they already used it for a variety of functions. yeah the first to carry out. russia tried to carry out. more successfully, it is a job we will -- another thing that they are using is a guardian angel who has assets. russian mercenaries in benghazi, or as two guard code lines. private security companies two guard. in the third, is the mercenary for some kind of trading and tactical role. at that you are revising the role and training local forces

had to use types of systems -- those are the main uses of mercenaries in global conflicts today. >> it is not just state actors using these mercenaries. also nonstate actors, multinational companies. they use these private security firms. under what norms do they operate, and who is it that monitors their activities? >> no one really monitors their activity. that is one of the big problems. it depends what they do. when they engage in hostilities, more than guard a door, guard and entrance, when they actually start using force, they are engaging suddenly in hostilities. they need to abide by foreign conflict. this is what we see occurring.

particularly with ragnar group, but with blackwater. they are torturing, murdering, and so forth. historically, it has been really difficult in armed conflicts or well organize groups to hold them to account. first of all, how do you obtain them? but how do you investigate who is responsible for what? i think it is a new challenge where because we see on such a large-scale these crimes occurring, it must draw the attention of the international criminal board to look at the leadership of these groups. >> how do you hold these groups accountable? >> one thing, first of all, the mercenaries have a rule in monitoring activities of mercenaries, that is part of our mandate. it is precise in terms of what

we are talking about. the term mercenary does have an international legal definition. that is an actor who has been recruited specifically to participate in hostilities. they do participate in hostilities. the national party to the armed conflict. >> what is the difference between a mercenary and foreign fighter? >> that is perhaps a different question. if we think about private security companies or private military companies, none of those terms have any legal definition. mercenary has a specific legal definition. think about these actors on a spectrum. the laws of armed conflict don't criminalize mercenaries.

the u.n. convention on mercenaries doesn't fact criminalize recruitment, training, financing, and deployment of mercenaries. some individual states to have criminal laws prohibiting mercenaries, even if the state is not a party to the treaty. we have a situation where it is very difficult to hold these actors to account. >> let me ask a point about this. you mentioned the central african republic. more recently, the wagoner group was invited by the military government to provide security against armed groups. the arrival of the wagoner group that influences the decision to withdraw. who in the case of molly, if crimes are activated, who's

responsible for these abuses. the malian government, which invited the group? who do you turn to? >> yes and yes. all of them. obviously the individuals committing crimes. most particular, negotiating. the leader of the wagoner group might be very interesting host for a national criminal court to look at. there's also sanction regimes against a lot of members. and corporations that work with and support them. and also the state responsibility. also pollard -- possibilities, litigation going on. also at the international court of justice against russia for not just what they are committing themselves, but how it really ties to all sorts of volunteers and little green men.

they don't really look like they would deny -- relationships. if the court finds indeed there are strong ties between russia and these individuals committing crimes, and it is attributable, the russian state is also held to account. >> your thoughts about this on the issue of accountability? >> it should be the individuals carrying out the crimes as well as the governments sponsoring and working with them. interesting to see whether there are major tribunals that will be held for the crimes taking place. in mali, also the wagoner group responsible for action. like the masker that killed as many people back at the same time in russia and april. we see the systematic policy of rape strictly on the outskirts.

in other parts of the country. you get perry -- carried out by the water group in conjunction with armed forces. those cases will be interesting must haves. >> you are talking about international prosecution. i want to ask about the icc. the role of the icc. when a black man commits crimes in ukraine, which in territories where the icc has jurisdiction, it is the legal process? what about a country like the u.s. which is not party to the icc? how do you go about holding the group accountable? >> i can't speak on the specific situation of ukraine. what i can say is we have seen countries like central african republic set up mechanisms to

hold these actors to account. the problem is groups like wagoner are becoming integrated into the fabric of society in countries like central african republic. making it difficult for the victims and families to report on human rights abuses and atrocities. they are being intimidated, harassed. we have seen defenders and journalists. the space to try and report these types of atrocities. it makes it very difficult. at the national level, it is hard to get accountability. working through the allegation in relation to the russian

government, because we received information russian nationals had been involved in the torture and murder of a syrian national in syria in an attempt to bring the claim in the russian courts. multiple obstacles and delays, and the way of that claim. what we have seen for countries to exercise universal jurisdiction for serious claims being committed. so that you would seek some countries increasingly starting to do that. some claims are so heinous, in fact they should be prosecuted outside of where they took place. >> let me ask about the options. it is hard to get accountability at the national level. the icc very often goes after the big fish. not the foot soldiers on the field committing these crimes.

what are the options? >> yes. the international -- has jurisdiction over a limited amount of crimes. crimes against humanity, genocide. what wagoner is doing is war crimes all over the place. the international criminal court can only exercise jurisdiction when it has jurisdiction. that is crimes being committed on the territory. where the icc has jurisdiction and has that over ukraine, central african republic. there are some possibilities. it would look at the big finish. those most responsible. as was discussed, universal jurisdiction of other states. wherever members of wagoner group are being suspected of having committed war crimes

occur, they might be prosecuted in other countries. the people identified in allegedly committing war crimes can risk danger when they are traveling outside of their save harboring states. also importantly, ukraine itself. where a lot of these crimes are being committed, is very active in prosecuting war crimes. it wants to prosecute in absence you. they are prosecuting people even if they don't have them detained. >> thank you for the very interesting discussion. thank you for joining us on inside story. thank you for watching. watch this program any time by visiting our website at al jazeera.com. for the discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter.

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