Fighters from the paramilitary group Wagner have begun working as “instructors” for Belarus’s territorial defence forces, Minsk announced on Friday.
“Training sessions with units of the territorial troops are taking place near Assipovitchy,” in the east of the country, the Belarusian Defence Ministry said, adding that the trainees are learning, among other things, “techniques of movement on the battlefield and tactical shooting.”
“Wagner fighters act as instructors in a number of military disciplines,” added the Belarusian ministry, which also posted a video of the exercises on YouTube.
“There is no doubt that this is a very useful experience for our army,” says a serviceman in the video. “We haven’t been in combat since the end of the war in Afghanistan,” he added, referring to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
At the end of June, Wagner, which played a key role in Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, sought to overthrow the Russian military leadership in a lightning revolt. Its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, insisted that his uprising was not aimed at overthrowing the government, but at saving Wagner from being dismantled by the Russian general staff, which he accused of incompetence in the conflict in Ukraine.
The mutiny ended on the evening of 24 June, with an agreement providing for Prigozhin’s departure for Belarus. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his fighters the options of joining the regular army, leaving for Belarus or returning to civilian life.
Prigozhin’s fate, meanwhile, is uncertain, with the Kremlin only acknowledging that it met him at the end of June, a few days after his rebellion, along with Wagner’s main commanders.
