The Belarusian army conducts exercises with Wagner fighters on the border with Poland

Last update: 13:13

The Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced today that mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Organization will help train Belarusian special forces during military exercises near the border with NATO member Poland.

Wagner’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video yesterday welcoming his fighters in Belarus and telling them that for the time being they will not take part in the war in Ukraine, but rather order them to regroup their forces for Africa.

The Belarusian Ministry of Defense said, “The Armed Forces of Belarus continue joint training with Wagner PMC (i.e. private military company) fighters.”

“During the week, units of the special operations forces will train with representatives of the company in a battle at the shooting range in Brest,” she added.

Poland announced earlier this month that it would send 500 police officers to beef up security at its border with Belarus to deal with the growing numbers of migrants crossing the region and potential threats after the movement of Wagner fighters into Belarus.

Yesterday, Prigozhin said, “What is happening on the Ukrainian front is a shame for us not to participate in it.” He added that the Wagner fighters would stay in Belarus for a while.

“We will make the Belarusian army the second best in the world and we will fight for it if necessary,” he added.

Prigozhin reportedly made the remarks in a video released late at night, but Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the video.

⚡️ A video posted by Prigozhin showing thousands of supposed Wagner troops in Belarus. pic.twitter.com/Usujv5jarF

War Monitors July 19, 2023

Warsaw monitors the situation on the border with Belarus

Today, Thursday, the Polish Ministry of Defense said that the Polish Ministry of Defense is monitoring the situation on the border with Belarus and is ready for various scenarios, after Belarus announced that mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group would participate in military exercises near the border.

“Poland’s borders are secure, and we are constantly monitoring the situation on our eastern borders and are prepared for different scenarios as the situation develops,” the Defense Ministry said in an emailed statement.

The Kremlin: Poland’s decision to strengthen its border with Belarus is a ’cause of concern’

The Kremlin said today that Poland’s decision to reinforce its forces along its border with Belarus, in part due to the presence of Wagner mercenaries, is a “reason for concern”.

On a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Poland an “aggressive” country and said “more caution” was needed.

10,000 Wagner mercenaries are scheduled to arrive in Belarus

The Razgruska Wagnera channel on the Telegram application, which is affiliated with the Russian private mercenary organization Wagner, published a statement issued by a member of the “Council of Governors” with the pseudonym “Marx”, saying that up to 10,000 mercenaries are planning to reach Belarus, the newspaper Novaya wrote today Gazeta Europe.

“These are the real numbers. A total of 78,000 fighters of the Wagner PMC passed during the Ukrainian campaign. Of these, 49,000 were prisoners. At the time of the capture of Bakhmut (on May 20), the killed fighters had reached 22 thousand, and the wounded 40 thousand. There are 25 “Alphas are alive and well as well as the wounded who are recovering. Of those, up to 10,000 have arrived or will arrive. There are 15,000 already leaving.”

Marx commented on the statement of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) Vladimir Shamanov, who said that 32,000 to 33,000 Wagner mercenaries signed a contract with the Russian army.

Marks added, “How the 33,000 who joined the army were formed, I don’t know at the moment. If all those who were killed and those who were given leave signed contracts, then this thing is possible. There is no disputing about it.” .

According to the information of the “Belarusian Gaion” observatory, nine Wagner battalions arrived in Belarus on the evening of July 19, while there are already 2000-2500 of its fighters in the country.

The losses suffered by Wagner, that is, only part of the Russian forces in Ukraine, are 46% higher than the losses suffered by the Soviet Army in Afghanistan according to official figures (15,051 Soviet soldiers) and four times higher than the losses suffered by the Soviet Army. The Russian army in the first war in Chechnya. A city with a population of 22,000 would be larger than hundreds of cities in Russia.