Lukashenko says ready to use Wagner Group in Belarus
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he is ready to use the Wagner Group in Belarus.
"The fact that we will host a certain number of servicemen does not bother me at all. If we need to use them, we will do it instantly," Lukashenko said at a meeting with Belarusian and foreign journalists at the Palace of Independence in Minsk on Thursday. The First Man's Pool Telegram channel, close to the presidential administration, quoted Lukashenko as saying.
"We will analyze and use all the expertise they gained on the frontline for training purposes," he said.
The attempted mutiny in Russia will only strengthen relations between Minsk and Moscow. Lukashenko said. "Why should this weaken our relations? We solved the problem together. We solved a problem that was very serious for Russia," he said.
"So why should our relations deteriorate? I'm sure that our relations will grow stronger instead," he said.
The relocation of the Wagner Group to Belarus remains an outstanding question, Lukashenko said, "The relocation and stationing of the Wagner private military company in Belarus are outstanding questions," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying.
This "does not depend on me alone. The decision is to be made by the Russian side and Wagner Group members also matters," Lukashenko said.
"We are not building camps. We have offered them a number of former military bases used in the Soviet era, including the one near Osipovichi. If they accept that. Still, the Wagner private military company has a different vision of its accommodation. Naturally, I will not tell you about their vision," Lukashenko said.
The situation around the Wagner Group which developed in Russia cannot repeat itself in Belarus, he said. "As they say, there is no point in making a wild guess. Still, I don't think that Wagner will ever rebel and turn its weapons against the Belarusian government or the Belarusian state," Lukashneko said.
"Anything can happen. But I don't see such a situation for now. You need to work with people," he said.
