Following weeks of ambiguity regarding the group’s future following its aborted uprising in Russia, Belarus said on Friday that instructors from the Russian mercenary organization Wagner were instructing its forces.
A pact that called for some Wagner warriors and their vocal leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to relocate to Belarus put an end to the brief uprising.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, cast doubt on the agreement earlier this month when he claimed that no Wagner warriors had yet entered the nation.
The Belarusian defence ministry appeared to confirm Friday that at least some Wagner fighters had arrived.
“Near Asipovichy, units of territorial defence troops are undergoing training,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
“Fighters of the Wagner private military company are acting as instructors in a number of military disciplines,” it said.
Later, the ministry stated that it had developed “a road map for the near term on training and sharing experience” between several units with Wagner.
