July 15 (UPI) — Wagner Group forces have arrived in Belarus, Ukraine’s border guard confirmed Saturday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to drive a wedge been the mercenaries and their boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Andriy Demchenko, the spokesman for Ukraine’s State Border Service, said in a statement border guards continue to monitor the situation to understand the size and location of the incoming Wagner units.
Wagner forces last month had first taken over a military facility in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don before marching toward Moscow to protest Russian military leadership and its handling of the war in Ukraine but quickly withdrew from the southern stronghold after a deal was brokered.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Putin, brokered the deal with Prigozhin and said he would allow the Wagner boss to live in exile in Belarus. Prigozhin has since gone missing, with reports varying that he is in Belarus, Russia or elsewhere.
“As of now, the available information shows that separate groups of representatives of private military campaigns moving from Russia have been observed in Belarus,” Demchenko said Saturday.
Belarus’ Defense Ministry said Friday that Wagner mercenaries would be training Belarus’ Armed Forces and later shared footage purporting to show Wagner instructors training Belarusian troops near Asipovichy in Belarus’ Mogilev Oblast.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Russian news outlet Kommersant in an interview published Thursday that he met with Prigozhin and dozens of Wagner commanders on June 29. Retired Gen. Robert Abrams told ABC News this week that the meeting was likely “highly staged.”
Putin said he offered Wagner troops the opportunity to serve under their immediate commander, known by the call sign “Seda,” rather than under Prigozhin in an attempt to keep mercenaries together.
“And nothing would have changed for them. They would be led by the same person who had been their real commander all along,” Putin said.
Putin claimed many of the Wagner commanders “nodded” in response to his offer in a likely bid to contrast Prigozhin to loyal men, according to the Institute for the Study of War — a think tank based in Washington. Putin also bizarrely claimed the Wagner Group does not exist in Russia.
