Introduction

Belarus said on Friday that fighters from the Russian private military group Wagner are training their soldiers at a camp southeast of Minsk, the first sign that at least part of a deal to end Russia’s insurgency may be in the works.

Two sources close to the militants told Reuters on condition of anonymity that some Wagner fighters have been in Belarus since at least Tuesday.

President Putin’s Statement

President Vladimir Putin said the Wagner uprising, in which militants seized a major military headquarters in southern Russia and then moved on Moscow, could have pushed Russia into civil war.

When fighters from one of the most battle-hardened mercenary groups were only 200 kilometers from Moscow, the Kremlin struck a deal in which Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin withdrew the fighters and agreed to move to Belarus in exchange for Russia dropping charges of rebellion.

But there is still no sign of Wagner fighters in Belarus, and Prigozhin has not been seen in public since he left the southern Russian city of Rostov late on June 24, despite being connected by a private jet between Belarus, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Trainers from Wagner

And the TV channel of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported on Friday: “Wagnerites perform tasks as instructors in a number of military specialties.” In turn, the state news agency reported that the Wagner group was training soldiers in the country.

Video Evidence

Continued Training

The ministry released a video showing Wagner fighters training Belarusian soldiers in a military area near the town of Osipovichi, about 90 kilometers southeast of the capital Minsk.

The helmet of at least one of the fighters, said to be from the Wagner group, bore the matryoshka emblem used by some of the Wagner fighters.

Background Information

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko helped broker the deal on June 24 and told reporters a week ago that Prigozhin was in Russia.

Prigozhin founded the Wagner Group in 2014 with Dmitry Utkin, a former GRU special forces officer. After the mutiny, Putin said that the group was funded by the state.

Wagner helped Russia annex Crimea in 2014, fought ISIS in Syria, worked in the Central African Republic and Mali, and took control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut for Russia earlier this year after both sides suffered heavy casualties.

The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Thursday that Putin offered the Wagner fighters the opportunity to continue fighting at a rally days after their mutiny, but offered to replace Prigozhin with a different commander.