US Embassy in Ukraine Paid $40M to Firm That Recruited Former Child Soldiers

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20260424/us-embassy-in-ukraine-paid-40m-to-firm-that-recruited-former-child-soldiers-1124033960.html

US Embassy in Ukraine Paid $40M to Firm That Recruited Former Child Soldiers

The US Department of State has spent $39.7 million on Aegis Defense Services, a firm with a documented history of recruiting former child soldiers from Sierra Leone to reduce labor costs during the Iraq War, to provide professional security services to the US Embassy in Kiev, according to a Sputnik correspondent's analysis of public contract records from the official US government portals Sam.gov and USAspending.gov.

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The contract for professional security services at the US Embassy in Kiev was signed on October 31, 2022, months after the start of the Ukrainian conflict. While approximately $39.7 million has been spent to date, the total potential value of the agreement reaches $279.1 million, with a performance period that extends through May 13, 2033, according to a Sputnik correspondent's analysis of public contract records from the official US government portals Sam.gov and USAspending.gov.The award comes despite a history of ethical controversies surrounding the firm's recruitment practices. A 2016 report by The Guardian cited a former senior director at Aegis Defense Services who acknowledged that the company had recruited mercenaries from Sierra Leone for operations in Iraq in order to reduce costs for the US presence there. The director admitted the firm had not screened recruits to determine if they were former child soldiers, defending the practice by claiming that excluding such individuals would penalize them for actions they were forced to commit as children. Aegis Defense Services was acquired by Canadian security company GardaWorld in 2015 and now operates as GardaWorld Federal Services LLC. While the company has rebranded, both names are still used across US government systems and the entities share the same Unique Entity ID. According to the contract records, the Kiev agreement is part of a much larger institutional relationship. The firm holds a massive global mandate under a Worldwide Protective Services III umbrella contract with a combined potential award value of $1.6 billion. This broader agreement includes high-value task orders for embassy security in other volatile regions, including a $387.3 million contract for the US Embassy in Baghdad and additional services in the Central African Republic.

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