Camps for the Wagner mercenary group are being built on the territory of Belarus, the Russian independent news outlet Verstka wrote on June 26.
The outlet reported that a military camp for 8,000 fighters is being built near Asipovichy in Mogilev Oblast, roughly 200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, with more camps to come.
According to Verstka’s sources, the workers were given tasks to build a camp with an area of 24,000 square meters “very quickly” under the orders of the authorities.
The news outlet also wrote that family members of Wagner contractors confirmed that the fighters are being deployed to Belarus.
On June 23, Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an armed rebellion against the Russian government. The mercenary group occupied Rostov, a major regional capital, and marched towards Moscow before unexpectedly ending the uprising late on June 24.
Following Prigozhin’s negotiations with Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko that led to Wagner’s retreat, the Kremlin pledged to close the case against the mercenary boss who was set to leave for Belarus.
However, Prigozhin’s whereabouts can not be verified except for his departure from Rostov-on-Don on the evening of June 24.
Despite claims on Telegram channels that Prigozhin has been spotted in Belarus’s capital, Lukashenko’s press service wrote it has no information on whether the Wagner’s founder arrived in the country.
The Belarusian monitoring group Belaruskyi Gayun pointed out that Prigozhin’s planes so far remain in Russia.
Francis Farrell
(Updated: )
