An image from a Belarus defence video shows a Wagner fighter conducting training for Belarusian soldiers on a range near the town of Osipovichi on July 14.Credit:Reuters
Some Wagner fighters have been in Belarus since at least Tuesday,two sources close to the fighters told Reuters.
The Belarusian defence ministry released a video on Friday,showing what it said were Wagner fighters instructing Belarusian soldiers at a military range near the town of Osipovichi.
Wagner’s move to Belarus was part of a deal that ended the group’s mutiny attempt in June – when they took control of a Russian military headquarters,marched on Moscow and threatened to tip Russia into civil war – President Vladimir Putin said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin looks from a military vehicle in a street in Rostov-on-Don,Russia,on June 24.Credit:AP
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been seen in public since he left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don late on June 24.
Poland’s deputy minister co-ordinator of special services,Stanislaw Zaryn,said Warsaw also has confirmation of Wagner fighters’ presence in Belarus.
“There may be several hundred of them at the moment,” Zaryn said on Twitter.