PMC “Wagner” intends to create a “second peace army” in Belarus

A video of PMC leaders Evgeny Prigozhin and Dmitriy Utkin speaking to mercenaries appeared in Telegram channels associated with PMC “Wagner”. Presumably, it was filmed in Belarus, when exactly – it is not known exactly.

In the video, Prigozhin and Utkin declare that the “Wagnerians” will temporarily stay in this country, and then return to the Ukrainian front and to Africa. Along the way, they are going to turn the Belarusian armed forces into a “second army of the world” and promise to stand on the side of Alexander Lukashenko in the event of any armed conflicts.

The video was shot at dusk, the faces of the speakers are not visible on it, but they can be recognized by their voices. As the “Important Histories” edition specifies, this is the first public appearance of Prigozhin since June 26 and the first public appearance of Dmitry Utkin (whose call sign “Wagner” gave him the name PMC) in general.

On June 23-24, mercenaries of PMC “Wagner” under the leadership of Prigozhin carried out an armed march on Rostov-on-Don and Moscow, demanding the resignation of the military leadership. The Russian authorities characterized these actions as rebellion. The movement of the columns stopped after negotiations with the participation of the Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. It was announced that no one would be punished for participating in the rebellion, and PMC “Wagner” would relocate to Belarus.

The monitoring project “Belarusian Gayun” writes that only on July 18, three convoys of PMC “Wagner” in civilian vehicles, numbering 1,400-1,500 people, arrived in Belarus. In total, since July 11, the number of mercenaries who have arrived in Belarus may reach 2,500. Prigozhin’s private plane regularly flies to this country.

According to the information of the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty, at least 485 cars and buses of various capacities are now located on the territory of the tent camp, deployed not far from the Belarusian city of Osypovychy. Heavy military equipment is not observed there. Earlier, the Ministry of Defense of Russia stated that PMC “Wagner” completed the transfer of its weapons to the Russian army – more than two thousand units of military equipment, as well as small arms and ammunition.

The Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported that the “Wagner” mercenaries who arrived in the country will train Belarusian military personnel.

On Wednesday, the Belarusian border service canceled the temporary border control on the border between Belarus and Russia, introduced on May 5. Checkpoints have been removed. It is not clear whether this decision is related to the relocation of PMC “Wagner”.

NATO countries have expressed concern over the transfer of “Wagner” mercenaries, considered one of the most combat-capable Russian units, to Belarus. In Poland, additional measures have been taken to protect the border. The Ukrainian military claims that they do not yet observe additional threats due to the redeployment of mercenaries.