Wagner PMC commander speaks of group's activities in Belarus

Soldiers of the Russian private military company Wagner "continue to work in Belarus for the benefit of Russia". The current commander of the Wagnerites, Anton Yelizarov (call sign "Lotus"), stated this in a video message published on telegram channels close to the PMC.

"I want to clarify the following. We continue to work. We continue to work on the African continent and we continue to work in Belarus for the benefit of Russia," Yelizarov said.

In late January, one of the PMC fighters who is now an instructor in the Belarusian security forces, Aleksey Bergovin, said in his blog that there are now "more than 300 instructors working in several training centers" in Belarus. British intelligence believes that there are less than a thousand Wagnerites left in Belarus.

Russian mercenaries who previously fought in Ukraine settled in Belarus after Prigozhin's rebellion in the summer of 2023. Most of them returned to Russia after some time, but some of them stayed in our country and trained with the special forces of the internal troops. They have the support of the Belarusian elite: Deputy Interior Minister Mikalai Karpiankou has been seen wearing a Wagner chevron on his uniform.