(Reuters) - Fighters from the Wagner group have arrived in Belarus from Russia, Ukrainian and Polish officers stated on Saturday, a day after Minsk stated that the mercenaries have been coaching the nation's troopers southeast of the capital."Wagner is in Belarus," Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border company, stated in a press release …
(Reuters) – Fighters from the Wagner group have arrived in Belarus from Russia, Ukrainian and Polish officers stated on Saturday, a day after Minsk stated that the mercenaries have been coaching the nation’s troopers southeast of the capital.
“Wagner is in Belarus,” Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border company, stated in a press release posted on the Telegram messaging app. He added that the motion of “separate teams” from Russia has been noticed in Belarus.
Some Wagner fighters have been in Belarus since a minimum of Tuesday, two sources near the fighters advised Reuters.
The Belarusian defence ministry launched a video on Friday, exhibiting what it stated have been Wagner fighters instructing Belarusian troopers at a army vary close to the city of Osipovichi.
Wagner’s transfer to Belarus was a part of a deal that ended the group’s mutiny try in June after taking management of a Russian army headquarters, marching on Moscow, and threatening to tip Russia into civil battle, President Vladimir Putin stated.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been seen in public since he left the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don late on June 24.
Poland’s Deputy Minister Coordinator of Particular Providers Stanislaw Zaryn stated that Warsaw additionally has affirmation of Wagner fighters’ presence in Belarus.
“There could also be a number of hundred of them in the meanwhile,” Zaryn stated on Twitter.
Poland stated earlier in July that it was bolstering its border with Belarus to handle any potential threats.
The Belarusian Hajun undertaking screens army exercise within the nation and is seen as an extremist group by Belarusian authorities. It stated a big caravan of a minimum of 60 autos – together with pickups, vans and buses- entered Belarus in a single day Friday from Russia.
Hajun stated it gave the impression to be a Wagner group headed to Tsel in central Belarus.
Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the Belarusian Hajun report. There was no instant remark from Russia or Belarus on the experiences.
(Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Mark Trevelyan in London)
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