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"Yeah, I know Belarus is between them"

Psssst. Kaliningrad might like a word

But let's be honest, the major push will be from Moskow down the Berlin-Moskow Highway.

And what is it about the UK that generates so many merc?

The real answer? Colonial interests across most of the world that didn't just vanish with decolonization.

You know, to some extent I get that. The US equivalent would be the Philippines I suppose. We've worked very hard to stay out of Filipino politics, only intervening when an official request is put forward by either the elected government or an NGO for disaster relief. But 'colonial interests' doesn't give Mad Mike permission to stick his pee-pee in the Seychelles. Nor does it give the UK government permission to cover for the coup attempt with back-door diplomacy. When a bunch of US mercs were hired to attempt a coup in Venezuela [a government that could hardly be called 'America-friendly'] the US turned their asses into the lawful government and declined to make an extradition request. I mean, when a CIA officer tells the mercenary team leader, 'Joe, this is a really bad idea.' and the idiot doesn't get the hint....

Well, exactly. These assets like EO or Simon Mann's various efforts were all essentially a deniable asset for enacting British foreign policy by another name. If you don't have the political capital to send in the SAS, you can certainly shove a briefcase of cash to some former SAS and just let do what they're going to do! (usually with comical results)
Or, maybe even more accurately, these are deniable assets that factions within British politics could use or encourage without needing the actual approval of the elected government and its other parties. Obviously this idea is appealing as today it's prevalent everywhere and by most major nations.

I don't want to get too political here in a way not really relevant to the setting, but that's a major purpose these groups have always fulfilled. I'd argue that PCs and many groups in T2K now function more similarly to middle ages free companies.

During the time period of Twilight 2000, the CIA would recruit US military special missions personnel (CAG; DEVGRU; Army Special Forces; Army Rangers; Navy SEAL's; USMC Force Recon; AIr Force Special Operators, etc.) and train them in spy-craft to work in their Special Operations Group (SOG). SOG was under the CIA's Special Activities Division (SAD), which was under under the Directorate of Operations. This still goes on today, but SAD is now called the Special Activities Center (SAC) and the Directorate of Operations is now called the National Clandestine Service and is semi-independent of the CIA. The CIA calls these special operators Paramilitary Operations Officers.

The CIA calls these special operators Paramilitary Operations Officers.

That is an... ...unfortunate acronym.