Belarus in talks with Wagner mercenary group.
Belarus says it has reached an agreement with Russia’s Wagner mercenary group to train its soldiers after Wagner’s leader and fighters staged a brief mutiny last month against the Kremlin’s military leadership.
The Belarusian defence ministry said in a statement on Friday that it had developed a roadmap with the Wagner Group’s management “for the near future for training and transfer of experience between units of different branches of the armed forces”.
Before the mutiny, Wagner had played a key role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is grinding through its 17th month.
The ministry did not say how many Wagner fighters were in Belarus or specify if more would follow but added it would continue to keep the public informed “about the upcoming work”.
It also released a video showing Wagner fighters instructing Belarusian soldiers at a military range near the town of Asipovichy, about 90km (56 miles) southeast of the capital, Minsk.
ALJAZEERA NEWS reports that, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko helped broker a deal to end Wagner’s short-lived rebellion on June 23-24 when the group took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and marched towards Moscow, shooting down a number of Russian military helicopters and killing their pilots.
