The fighters of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, forced to leave Belarus after their failed rebellion in Russia at the end of June, are training with the special forces of this allied country of Moscow, announced Minsk on Thursday.
“During the week, (Belarusian) special forces units and (Wagner) company representatives will train for combat missions at the Bretsky training ground,” near the border with Poland, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Telegram.
He then published the “first photos” of these trainings and explained that “in the current geopolitical situation, the real combat experience (of Wagner) is an opportunity to continue to develop” the modernization and re-equipment of the Belarusian army.
Last week, Minsk had already indicated that Wagner’s fighters were training Belarusian conscripts at a training ground southeast of the capital.
The Bretsky training ground is located less than five kilometers from the border with Poland, the Polish Ministry of Defense having assured AFP on Thursday that it had “strengthened the cooperation of the Polish army with the border guards through, among other things, an intensification of joint operations at the border”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said he was paying “increased attention” to Polish military movements, because “Poland’s aggressiveness towards Belarus and the Russian Federation is a reality”.
Wagner’s fighters played a major role in Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, including on the front line in the bloody battle for Bakhmout, which Moscow claimed in May after months of siege devastated the city.
On June 24, the culmination of weeks of latent conflict with the Russian general staff, they had occupied an army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, for several hours and traveled several hundred kilometers towards Moscow, shaking Russian power.
Their rebellion ended on the evening of June 24, with an agreement providing for the departure to Belarus of Wagner’s boss, Evguéni Prigojine. Its fighters had been offered to join the regular troops, return to civilian life or leave with their leader.
On Wednesday evening, a video published by Telegram accounts claiming to be close to Wagner, but which AFP could not authenticate, showed Yevgeny Prigojine welcoming his men “on Belarusian soil” and explaining to them that they will no longer fight in Ukraine, where “what is happening on the front is a shame and we do not need to participate in it”.
In this video, Yevgeny Prigojine also asks his troops to carry out the training of the army of Belarus and to prepare for “a new trip to Africa”, where Wagner is already present in several countries.