© Reuters. A fighter of the Russian mercenary group “Wagner” conducts coaching of the Belarusian army at a coaching floor close to the town of Osipovichi, Belarus, on July 14, 2023, in a photograph from a handout video. Vaen TV/Ministry of Protection of Belarus/Handout through REUTERS
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(Reuters) – Fighters from the Wagner group have arrived in Belarus from Russia, Ukrainian and Polish officers mentioned on Saturday, a day after Minsk mentioned mercenaries have been coaching the nation’s troopers southeast of the capital.
The press secretary of the Ukrainian border company Andriy Demchenko mentioned within the Telegram messaging program: “Wagner is in Belarus.” He knowledgeable that the motion of “separate teams” from Russia is noticed in Belarus.
A few of Wagner’s fighters have been in Belarus since a minimum of Tuesday, two sources near the fighters instructed Reuters.
On Friday, the Ministry of Protection of Belarus revealed a video on which, as it’s claimed, militants of the “Wagner” PMC are instructing the Belarusian army on the coaching floor close to Osipovichi.
Wagner’s transfer to Belarus was a part of a deal that ended the group’s tried insurgency in June — after they took management of Russian army headquarters, marched on Moscow and threatened to pull Russia into civil conflict, President Vladimir Putin mentioned.
The pinnacle of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been seen in public since he left the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don late within the night on June 24.
Deputy Minister-coordinator of Poland’s particular providers, Stanislav Zarin, mentioned that Warsaw additionally has affirmation of the presence of Wagner’s militants in Belarus.
“There could possibly be a number of hundred in the intervening time,” Zarin mentioned on Twitter.
This month, Poland mentioned it was strengthening its border with Belarus to counter any potential threats.
By not sending his personal troops to Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko allowed Moscow to make use of Belarusian territory to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and since then has allowed his nation for use as a base for Russian nuclear weapons.
The “Belarusian Hajun” challenge, which displays army exercise within the nation and is taken into account by the Belarusian authorities as an extremist group, reported that a big convoy of a minimum of 60 automobiles entered Belarus on Friday night time from Russia.
It mentioned the automobiles, together with vehicles, pick-ups, vans and buses, had license plates of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Individuals’s Republics in what’s internationally acknowledged as japanese Ukraine. Final 12 months, Moscow annexed the republics, which have been subordinate to Russia since 2014, in a transfer extensively condemned as unlawful.
Khayun mentioned Wagner’s convoy headed to Tsel in central Belarus, the place international reporters have been proven a camp with a whole lot of empty tents final week.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report by Belarusian Khayun. Neither Russia nor Belarus have but commented on these studies.
