The Belarusian army on Friday confirmed off a subject camp it has provided to Russia’s Wagner army contractor if it relocates to Belarus beneath a deal that ended its mutiny.
Maj. Gen. Leonid Kosinsky, an assistant to Belarus’ protection minister, advised worldwide reporters that Wagner troops might use the previous Belarusian military camp close to Tsel, about 90 kilometers (about 55 miles) southeast of Minsk.
Journalists had been proven rows of empty tents that Kosinsky stated might accommodate as much as 5,000 troops on the camp within the Asipovichy district that was utilized by the Belarusian military earlier than it was handed over to the territorial protection forces.
Kosinsky stated Wagner representatives haven’t but inspected the camp to see whether or not it meets their wants. “When the Wagner Group makes a final decision on whether to deploy to Belarus or not, they will see where and how to deploy,” he advised reporters.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated Thursday that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is in Russia and his troops thus far have remained at their dwelling camps, elevating new questions in regards to the deal that ended the extraordinary problem to President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
Much in regards to the the settlement, which was brokered by Lukashenko, stays murky, and it was not clear if the Wagner chief’s presence in Russia would violate the deal, which allowed Prigozhin and his mercenaries to maneuver to Belarus in alternate for ending the rise up and a promise of amnesty.
PHOTOS: Belarus exhibits off a army camp to host Russia’s Wagner mercenaries after a failed mutiny
Lukashenko’s declare couldn’t be independently verified, however Russian media have reported Prigozhin was just lately seen at his workplaces in Russia‘s second-largest city, St. Petersburg. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday again shrugged off questions about Prigozhin’s whereabouts and refused to touch upon whether or not his presence in Russia would violate the deal.
The Belarusian president dismissed recommendations that the mercenaries might assault Ukraine from Belarusian territory, which Russian troops used as a staging floor forward of their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
During their revolt that lasted lower than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries shortly swept by way of the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don and captured the army headquarters there with out firing a shot earlier than driving to inside about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of the Russian capital. Prigozhin described it as a “march of justice” to oust his longtime foes – Russian protection minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the army’s basic workers, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, whose dealing with of the struggle in Ukraine he criticized.
The Wagner fighters confronted little resistance and downed not less than six army helicopters and a command put up plane, killing not less than 10 airmen. When the deal was struck, the Wagner chief ordered his troops to return to their camps.
The abortive rise up represented the most important risk to Putin in his greater than twenty years in energy, exposing his weak spot and eroding the Kremlin’s authority.
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