Minsk announced on Thursday, July 20, that members of the Wagner group had started training with the special forces of the former Soviet country, nearly a month after their failed rebellion in Russia.
The fighters from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, who were forced to go to Belarus after their failed rebellion in Russia at the end of June, will train with the special forces of this Moscow-aligned country, Minsk announced on Thursday. “During the week, units of the (Belarusian) special forces and representatives of the (Wagner) company will train in combat missions at the Bretsky training ground,” near the border with Poland, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Telegram.
Last week, Minsk had already indicated that Wagner fighters were training Belarusian conscripts at a training ground southeast of the capital, Minsk. Wagner fighters played a major role in the Russian offensive in Ukraine, particularly on the front lines in the bloody battle for Bakhmut (east), the capture of which was claimed by Moscow in May after months of siege that devastated the city.
No more fighting in Ukraine On June 24, the culmination of weeks of simmering conflict with the Russian military high command, they occupied an army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, for several hours and traveled hundreds of kilometers towards Moscow, shaking the Russian power structure. Their rebellion ended on the evening of June 24, with an agreement for the departure of Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to Belarus. His fighters were offered the choice to join regular troops, return to civilian life, or leave with their leader for Belarus.
On Wednesday evening, a video published by Telegram accounts claiming to be close to Wagner, unauthenticated, showed Yevgeny Prigozhin welcoming his men “on Belarusian soil” and explaining that they would no longer fight in Ukraine, where “what is happening on the front is a disgrace and we don’t need to participate in it.” In the video, Yevgeny Prigozhin also asks his troops to carry out the training of the Belarusian army and to prepare for “a new trip to Africa,” where Wagner is already present in several countries.
