Border Guard Service: Wagner mercenaries in Belarus do not pose threat to Ukraine

The Wagner mercenaries currently stationed in Belarus do not pose a serious threat to Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service's spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on national television on July 16.

There is "no question of any mass or large-scale establishment" of Wagner mercenaries, Demchenko said.  

According to Demchenko, the Wagner mercenaries number in the hundreds, not thousands, and they are stationed at least 100 kilometers from Ukraine's border.

However, there is a potential for the Wagner mercenaries to be used to try and destabilize the situation along the border with Ukraine, which is why Ukrainian authorities are keeping track of their movements, he added.

Belarusian state media reported on July 14 that Wagner mercenaries were in the country to train Belarusian territorial defense forces.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko allegedly helped broker a deal for Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops to relocate to Belarus after their armed "rebellion" in late June stopped short of reaching Moscow.

Russia after Wagner revolt: Will Putin stay afloat or face more turmoil?

The rebellion organized by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group in June is seen by many analysts as a sign of weakness and fragility of Vladimir Putin’s regime. First, several thousand armed mercenaries managed to march for hundreds of kilometers from Rostov to the vicinity of Moscow, and no one

The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov