Belarus is constructing camps for members of the Wagner Group who are being sent to the country as part of a deal to end the brutal mercenary outfit’s short-lived mutiny, according to reports by independent Russian media.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led thousands of his troops on a march toward Moscow, taking control of the city of Rostov-on-Don, a key military command center east of Ukraine, and stopping just short of the capital, when it was announced that he would stand down. Under an agreement brokered by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, members of Prigozhin’s force will relocate to Belarus, while those who remained loyal to the Russian government would sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense.
Prigozhin broke his silence in an eleven-minute audio recording released today, in which he doubled down on his claims that a Russian military strike against a Wagner convoy led to the march.
He explained the reason behind his decision to abandon the rebellion on Saturday: “The first was that we didn’t want to shed Russian blood. The second was that we marched to demonstrate our opposition, not to overthrow the government.”
Russia’s Vertska outlet, an independent news website, reported Belarus’s plans to open several Wagner camps, revealing that they will be constructed in its Mogilev region, just under 125 miles from Ukraine, and that they will have capacity to house 8,000 Wagner members.
Vertska also spoke with the relatives of Wagner members, who said that members of the mercenary group will soon depart for Belarus.
The report confirms that preparations to implement the Wagner deal are under way. However, despite initial descriptions of the agreement stating that the Russian government would not bring a criminal case against Prigozhin, Russian outlets reported today that the FSB is still investigating and has not closed its case against him.