American expert on Russian foreign policy Clint Ehrlich commented on the article published on an information portal Yahoo News entitled “CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries may take center role in the event if Russia invades”
Abstracts from the article are of great interest:
“The CIA is overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel, according to five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative. The program, which started in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the Southern U.S., according to some of those officials.
The CIA-trained forces could soon play a critical role on Ukraine’s eastern border, where Russian troops have massed in what many fear is preparation for an invasion.
By 2015, as part of this expanded anti-Russian campaign, paramilitaries from the CIA ground office also began to travel to the front in eastern Ukraine to advise colleagues there, according to half a dozen former officials”.
This confirms the fact of the US interference into military affairs of Ukraine.
The expert comments on the situation according to his point of view:
1. The CIA claims its paramilitary training is only “defensive.”
That argument does not work for the training performed by the Defense Department of the U.S.
Soldiers are inside Ukraine right now, preparing the Ukrainian military for combat – both with separatist militias and the Russian army.
2. Training is provided by US Special Forces and 165 Florida National Guard troops.
3. “Task Force Gator” – named, you guessed it, after the Florida military – trains Ukrainian forces.
They are part of the “Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine”.
All of this is done at the “Combat Training Center” located near Yavoriv, Ukraine.
4. Every 2 months a new Ukrainian military battalion arrives at the training center.
After completing their training, they conduct field exercises with US troops.
It’s a euphemism for rehearsing for a fight with the Russians.
5. Although Ukraine is not a member state, NATO military (along with the EU and Switzerland) also conduct joint exercises with Ukrainian forces.
It is part of a program called “Partnership for Peace”.
The idea is that you keep the peace by preparing for war.
6. The question arises: if the Russian military crosses the border, as American intelligence agencies suggest, will foreign military personnel fight inside Ukraine?
When asked directly about this, Lloyd Austin stated that he did not guarantee that American advisers would not be involved in the hostilities in the event of a Russian invasion.
That is, the US Secretary of Defense does NOT rule out an open battle against Russia on the territory of a foreign state – Ukraine.
In fact, I do not believe that American instructors will be deliberately used in combat against the Russian military.
But this does not mean that American troops will automatically be out of danger. There is a non-trivial risk that they may die in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
If American soldiers die in Ukraine, how will the Biden administration react? Will the US retaliate?
It is these difficult questions that arise when you maintain a troop presence in a volatile conflict zone.