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On Thursday, mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner military company conducted joint exercises with the Belarusian army near the border with Poland after they moved to Belarus following their short-lived rebellion, a move that prompted Warsaw to redeploy its forces.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry said the week-long maneuvers would take place at a firing range near the border city of Brest and would involve Belarusian special forces. The ministry added that Wagner’s combat experience would help modernize the Belarusian army.
A video posted on Wednesday showed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin for the first time since he led the revolt last month. In the video, Prigozhin is seen telling his troops that they will spend time in Belarus training its army to help “make the Belarusian army the second most powerful army in the world” before deploying to Africa.
In addition to their involvement in Ukraine, Wagner mercenaries have been sent to Syria and several African countries since the establishment of the private army in 2014.
On Thursday, the British government imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 13 Wagner mercenaries over alleged attacks on civilians and other human rights abuses in Africa. Britain had already sanctioned Prigozhin and several other Wagner leaders over the group’s role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In his rebellion that began on June 23 and lasted less than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries captured the military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don without firing a shot and then moved within 200 kilometers (125 mi) of Moscow. The rebellion met little resistance. The mercenaries shot down at least six military helicopters and a command post plane, killing at least 10 pilots.
Prigozhin had called it a “march of justice” to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov, who demanded that Wagner’s troops sign contracts with the Defense Ministry. He ordered his forces back to their camps after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal to end the insurgency in exchange for an amnesty for Prigozhin and his fighters and permission to move to Belarus.
The revolution posed the most serious threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule, eroding his power and exposing the government’s weaknesses.
Belarusian Hagon, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troop movements in Belarus, said nine convoys of more than 2,000 Wagner mercenaries had already entered the country. About 10,000 Wagner soldiers are set to deploy to Belarus, a commander from Wagner said in a statement posted on a messaging app channel linked to the company.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the Associated Press showed a convoy of vehicles at the base near Tsel in the Asipovichy region of Belarus, about 90 kilometers (about 55 miles) southeast of Minsk, which were shown to Wagner by Belarusian authorities.
Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave the country after challenging Lukashenko in a 2020 election denounced as fraudulent by the opposition and the West, said Wagner’s deployment to Belarus would destabilize the country and threaten its neighbours.
“The arrival of Wagner will increase instability,” she said, “and no one will feel safe with these war criminals roaming the country.” “They are extremely dangerous and their unpredictability increases the danger for Belarusians and our neighbors.”
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Thursday that he had ordered the transfer of some forces from the west of the country to Biala Podlaska, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Brest, and in Kolno to the north.
“We must bear in mind that bringing a few thousand Wagner troops to Belarus is a threat to our country, hence my decision to transfer some military units from western Poland to eastern Poland,” Blaszczak said on State Radio 1.
Some of the strong rhetoric can be attributed to early campaigning ahead of parliamentary elections expected in the fall, in which the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party is expected to lose control of Parliament.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry said the week-long maneuvers would take place at a firing range near the border city of Brest and would involve Belarusian special forces. The ministry added that Wagner’s combat experience would help modernize the Belarusian army.
A video posted on Wednesday showed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin for the first time since he led the revolt last month. In the video, Prigozhin is seen telling his troops that they will spend time in Belarus training its army to help “make the Belarusian army the second most powerful army in the world” before deploying to Africa.
In addition to their involvement in Ukraine, Wagner mercenaries have been sent to Syria and several African countries since the establishment of the private army in 2014.
On Thursday, the British government imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 13 Wagner mercenaries over alleged attacks on civilians and other human rights abuses in Africa. Britain had already sanctioned Prigozhin and several other Wagner leaders over the group’s role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In his rebellion that began on June 23 and lasted less than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries captured the military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don without firing a shot and then moved within 200 kilometers (125 mi) of Moscow. The rebellion met little resistance. The mercenaries shot down at least six military helicopters and a command post plane, killing at least 10 pilots.
Prigozhin had called it a “march of justice” to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov, who demanded that Wagner’s troops sign contracts with the Defense Ministry. He ordered his forces back to their camps after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal to end the insurgency in exchange for an amnesty for Prigozhin and his fighters and permission to move to Belarus.
The revolution posed the most serious threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule, eroding his power and exposing the government’s weaknesses.
Belarusian Hagon, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troop movements in Belarus, said nine convoys of more than 2,000 Wagner mercenaries had already entered the country. About 10,000 Wagner soldiers are set to deploy to Belarus, a commander from Wagner said in a statement posted on a messaging app channel linked to the company.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the Associated Press showed a convoy of vehicles at the base near Tsel in the Asipovichy region of Belarus, about 90 kilometers (about 55 miles) southeast of Minsk, which were shown to Wagner by Belarusian authorities.
Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave the country after challenging Lukashenko in a 2020 election denounced as fraudulent by the opposition and the West, said Wagner’s deployment to Belarus would destabilize the country and threaten its neighbours.
“The arrival of Wagner will increase instability,” she said, “and no one will feel safe with these war criminals roaming the country.” “They are extremely dangerous and their unpredictability increases the danger for Belarusians and our neighbors.”
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Thursday that he had ordered the transfer of some forces from the west of the country to Biala Podlaska, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Brest, and in Kolno to the north.
“We must bear in mind that bringing a few thousand Wagner troops to Belarus is a threat to our country, hence my decision to transfer some military units from western Poland to eastern Poland,” Blaszczak said on State Radio 1.
Some of the strong rhetoric can be attributed to early campaigning ahead of parliamentary elections expected in the fall, in which the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party is expected to lose control of Parliament.
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