Minsk | Satellite images analysed by the Associated Press on Saturday showed what appeared to be a newly built military-style camp in Belarus, with statements from a Belarusian guerrilla group and officials suggesting it may be used to house fighters from the Wagner mercenary group.
The images provided by Planet Labs PLC suggest that dozens of tents have been erected within the past two weeks at a former military base outside Osipovichi, a town 230 kilometers (142 miles) north of the Ukrainian border. A satellite photo taken on Jun. 15 shows no sign of the rows of white and green structures that are clearly visible in a later image, dated Jun. 30.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his fighters escaped prosecution and were offered refuge in Belarus last week after Minsk helped broker a deal to end what appeared to be an armed insurrection by the mercenary group.
The abortive revolt saw Wagner troops capture a military headquarters in southern Russia and march hundreds of kilometers (miles) towards Moscow, seemingly unimpeded.
Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country, a close and dependent ally of Moscow, could use Wagner's experience and expertise, and announced that he had offered the fighters an “abandoned military unit” to set up camp.
Aliaksandr Azarau, leader of the anti-Lukashenko BYPOL guerrilla group of former military members, told the Associated Press by phone on Thursday that construction of a site for Wagner mercenaries was underway near Osipovichi.
Up to 8,000 fighters from Wagner private military force may be deployed in
Belarus, a spokesman for Ukraine's border force told Ukrainian media Saturday. Speaking to the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, Andriy Demchenko said that Ukraine would strengthen its 1,084 kilometre (674 mile) border with Belarus as a response.
Lukashenko has previously allowed the Kremlin to use Belarusian territory to send troops and weapons into Ukraine. He has also welcomed a continued Russian armed presence in Belarus, including joint military camps and exercises, as well as the deployment of some of Russia's tactical nuclear weapons there.
Demchenko told Ukrainska Pravda on Saturday that as of this week, some 2,000 troops from regular Russian army units remained stationed in Belarus.
At a gala evening Friday marking the Belarusian Independence Day, Lukashenko said that the Belarusian armed forces could benefit from training by Wagner members, and asserted that the mercenaries were “not a threat” to Belarusians.
He also declared that he was “sure” Belarus would not have to use the nuclear weapons deployed to its territory, and would not get directly involved in Moscow's war against Ukraine.
“The longer we live, the more we are convinced that (nuclear weapons) should be with us, in Belarus, in a safe place. And I am sure that we will never have to use them while we have them, and the enemy shall never set foot on our soil,” Lukashenko said.
Moscow | Russia's media watchdog blacklisted at least five media outlets affiliated with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and blocked their websites in Russia.
The move came after Wagner fighters took control of a Russian military headquarters and advanced on Moscow in what appears to have been an attempted insurrection.
As of Saturday, websites of the RIA FAN news agency and four online news portals controlled by Prigozhin's Patriot media holding company “People's News”, “Neva News”, “Politics Today” and “Economy Today” — were listed on a register of blacklisted sites maintained by the communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor.
Unconfirmed reports in Russian news outlets Friday claimed that Prigozhin himself had ordered a shut down of St. Petersburg-based Patriot. Prigozhin has not directly confirmed or denied the reports.
Patriot, founded in 2019 to bring together Prigozhin's media and internet assets, included the Internet Research Agency, the so-called “troll farm” linked to Russian attempts to meddle in US elections.
Patriot director Yevgeny Zubarev said this week that the Internet Research Agency, which was tasked with conducting online influence operations to advance Russian interests, had operated under Prigozhin's control since 2009 before being brought under the Patriot umbrella. .
In the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, IRA employees regularly posed as Americans to offer financial help to US protest movements tackling socially divisive topics, according to a 2017 investigation by Russian newspaper RBC.
The investigation, based on accounts from several IRA employees, identified more than 100 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts it said were used to contact US-based activists offering help with organising protests and events, focusing on race relations and gun rights among other front-page issues.
Prigozhin admitted in November that he had interfered in the 2016 election.
He and his fighters escaped prosecution and were offered refuge in Belarus last week after the president of Belarus helped broker a deal to end what appeared to be an armed insurrection by the mercenary group.
Prigozhin's media group encompassed dozens of media outlets, including RIA FAN, the news agency whose US subsidiary USA Really pilloried “mainstream media” and praised then-President Donald Trump in its mission statement.
