Police official expecting Wagner to train special-purpose units

July 12, BPN. Belarus’ interior ministry is in talks with Wagner Group leaders to arrange training for Belarusian law enforcers, said a deputy interior minister.

During a visit to the special-purpose unit called Štorm on July 12, Mikalaj Karpiankoŭ said that his ministry is forming special-purpose units to fight diversion and sabotage groups, illegal armed formations and reinforce border and overall security, the interior ministry’s press office reported.

The units have been organized in Brest, Homiel and Hrodna and manned with soldiers who have served at least three years with the Internal Troops or special-purpose units, the interior ministry said.

“We have state-of-the art weapons . . . including infrared sights and quadcopters. Any target detected by our scouts within a range of up to 10 kilometers, we can destroy with our quadcopters,” Karpiankoŭ, commander of the Internal Troops, said. “We will master everything that is used and applied in Ukraine, and take it into service.”

One day earlier, the defense ministry announced that Wagner fighters will arrive in Belarus “for training and exchange of experience.”

Once Russian private army troops are at training grounds, “we are planning to pay special attention to ways and methods of conducting the Belarusian Armed Forces’ combat operations,” it said.

However, the ministry did not specify when and how many soldiers are expected to arrive.

Wagner commanders and Russian officials have not commented on possible deployments to Belarus in the last few days.

On June 23, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin called for an armed rebellion to oust the Russian defense minister. He later halted the mutiny as a result of agreements reached with Alaksandar Łukašenka.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he let the mercenary boss go to Belarus. On July 2, the Wagner Group said it was suspending recruitment for a month due to relocation to Belarus.