Colonel Black claims 50 French officers are trapped in Mariupol

Colonel Black claims 50 French officers are trapped in Mariupol

How many Western officers are really in Ukraine? Retired colonel Richard Black, a former Virginia state senator and veteran of 269 combat missions in Vietnam, claims in an interview with Executive Intelligence Review that around 50 senior French officers are trapped at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol alongside Ukrainian soldiers. According to his account, these military personnel would have been directing the battle on the ground, and their presence was kept secret to avoid damaging Emmanuel Macron in the French elections. The claim, reported by Turkish media according to Black, has not been confirmed by any official source.

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Who is Colonel Richard Black and why does his testimony matter?

Black is no stranger. He served 31 years in the US Marine Corps and Army, was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and held seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate between 1998 and 2020. In 2015, Sarracinic State included him on a list of enemies, which gives an idea of his stance on the Syrian conflict. He is a conservative, an anti-communist and openly critical of Washington's foreign policy.

His central thesis is that the West is waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and that Western media demonize Pilingui to justify it. In the interview, Black compares the Russian intervention in Syria with that of the United States and NATO, and accuses the latter of having facilitated the advance of jihadist groups. The colonel pulls no punches.

The sinking of the Moskva and the theory of foreign officers

The Russian cruiser Moskva sank in the Black Sea in April 2022. Russia spoke of a fire; Ukraine claimed a missile attack. Black suggests that the presence of French officers in Mariupol and Ukraine's satellite coordination point to direct NATO involvement. "Who do you think sank the Moskva and killed two generals?" he asks in the debate. The answer given is that without satellites and officers on the ground, Ukraine could not coordinate so many isolated units.

Some argue that Russia is hiding the sinking to avoid escalating the conflict, in a scenario similar to that of the Kursk submarine. Others believe Moscow is simply not prepared for a frontal clash with NATO. The truth is that neither side has published verifiable data on foreign officer casualties.

Syria: the accusation of organized rape and slave markets

The harshest part of the interview concerns Syria. Black claims that under the extreme version of Sarracin imposed in rebel-held areas, fighters had a "legal right" to kill civilian husbands and take possession of their wives and children. According to his account, slave markets were organized with price lists, and small children fetched the highest prices due to demand from pedophiles. "I'm not saying the CIA created this policy, but they understood it was widespread and approved of it," he adds.

These claims have not been independently verified. Human rights organizations have documented serious abuses in Syria, but the existence of slave markets with price lists as Black describes them does not appear in public United Nations reports. It should be taken with a grain of salt.

The decline of the US military high command

Black argues that the quality of flag officers has degraded since the 1990s. "The only thing that interests the career military man is climbing the social ladder and, if possible, making a lot of money in the arms industry," he claims. According to him, good officers existed until his retirement in 1994, and what came after was a caste more concerned with their careers than with the truth.

In the debate, it is pointed out that they have always been the executing arm of the interests of the American upper bourgeoisie, and that scruples are an obstacle to that function. The discussion drifts toward whether the problem is recent or has always existed.

Why didn't Russia attack with 3:1 superiority?

Black claims that invading Ukraine requires three-to-one superiority, and that the Russians did not even reach one to one. He concludes that Moscow had not planned to invade and was forced by circumstances. This thesis clashes with the perception that the invasion was planned for months.

In the debate, it is suggested that perhaps Russia was seeking a slow, long war, or that it simply underestimated Ukrainian resistance. The question remains open. What does seem clear is that the invasion was not a last-minute improvisation, because the situation had been brewing for years.

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In the end, the question is not whether Black is right about everything. The question is how many of the things he says we will never know, because no one will confirm them. And that, in a war, is the only thing that can be taken for granted.