More mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner military contractor have rolled into Belarus, continuing their relocation to the ex-Soviet nation following last month’s short-lived mutiny, monitors said.
Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troops movements in Belarus, said a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying Russian flags and Wagner insignia entered the country on Monday, heading towards a field camp that Belarusian authorities have offered to the company.
The group said it was the third Wagner convoy to enter the country since last week.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered a deal that ended last month’s rebellion launched by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said that his country’s military could benefit from the mercenaries’ combat experience.
On Friday, Belarusian state TV broadcast video of Wagner instructors training Belarusian territorial defence forces at a firing range in the Asipovichy region, where the camp offered to Wagner is located.
A Belarusian messaging app channel alleged last week that Mr Prigozhin spent a night at the camp near Tsel, about 55 miles south-east of Minsk, and posted a photo of him in a tent.
In the revolt that started on June 23rd and lasted less than 24 hours, Mr Prigozhin’s mercenaries quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before driving to within about 125 miles of Moscow.
Mr Prigozhin called it a “march of justice” to oust defence minister Sergei Shoigu and general staff chief general Valery Gerasimov, who demanded that Wagner sign contracts with the defence ministry.
The mutiny faced little resistance and the mercenaries downed at least six military helicopters and a command post aircraft, killing at least 10 airmen.
Mr Prigozhin ordered his troops back to their camps after striking a deal to end the rebellion in exchange for an amnesty for him and his men, and permission to move to Belarus. The terms of the deal and Mr Prigozhin’s fate remain unclear.
The Belarusian defence ministry did not say how many Wagner troops are in Belarus.
Mr Lukashenko has previously said it was up to Mr Prigozhin and Moscow to decide on a move to Belarus. The Kremlin has refrained from comment.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has declared that Wagner troops had a choice between signing contracts with the defence ministry, moving to Belarus, or retiring from service.
Mr Putin said last week that he offered Wagner officers the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander when he met with them five days after the rebellion.
The Russian leader’s comments appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries, some of the most capable Russian forces in Ukraine, after the group’s brief revolt last month posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule.
The Russian defence ministry said last week that Wagner was completing the handover of its weapons to the Russian military, part of efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat posed by the mercenaries that seemed to herald an end to their operations in Ukraine where they had played a prominent role as one of the most capable elements of Russian forces.
