Wagner fighters began training soldiers in Belarus

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According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the Russian paramilitary group Wagner has arrived in Belarus and its fighters have started serving as army trainers.

The ministry said on Friday that the fighters – whose transfer to Belarus was part of a deal to end the armed insurgency led by their boss Yevgeny Prigozhin – are now training with Belarusian regional defense units.

“This (Wagner’s) experience is very useful to us,” said a Belarusian in a video posted by the Defense Ministry, which also claimed that Wagner would help secure key infrastructure such as factories and waterways.

The Wagner base is near Osipovichi, a town where the Belarusian authorities prepared a tent camp to hold them. A Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel shared a photo of Prigozhin sitting in a tent.

Belarus’ exiled opposition has warned that Wagner’s presence in the country has created a new element of instability in the region. Since Wagner’s aborted uprising, Poland and other eastern NATO members have strengthened their military presence along their borders with Belarus.

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier this week showed footage of Wagner members handing in their weapons before departure, suggesting the paramilitary force was abiding by the terms of the cease-fire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Russian newspaper Kommersant on Thursday, in his first comments about the agreement since the aborted uprising, that he had offered Wagner “several employment options”.

According to Putin, the agreement would place the Wagner fighters under the command of Andrei Trochev, a senior commander who has de facto led the group’s efforts in Ukraine.

Putin continued, “Many of the 35 people present shook their heads when I said that,” but Prigozhin, who was sitting opposite him and did not see him, listened to me and said: ‘No, not these people. Yes, I do not agree with that decision.

Putin said he gave an assessment of “what they did on the battlefield, and on the other hand what they did during the uprising”.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko helped seal the deal that ended Wagner’s insurgency by offering Prigozhin and his troops asylum in his country.

Prigozhin’s whereabouts have since remained unclear, with Lukashenko and flight data indicating the warlord returned to his Russian hometown of St. Petersburg. Analysts and people close to Prigozhin have suggested that he may have been given some time to close his business before settling in Belarus.