Prigojin Who Moved to Belarus... Wagner Group's Dissolution Begins in Earnest

Lukashenko "Just Pitch a Tent"... Wagner Group Welcomed
Remaining Mercenaries Guaranteed to Go to Belarus... Only a Few Likely to Go

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary company Wagner Group, which failed after launching an armed rebellion in Russia, is reported to have arrived in Belarus. As the Belarusian government welcomed him and the Wagner Group mercenaries by providing a military base, and the Russian government showed signs of permitting some mercenaries to move to Belarus, the dismantling of the Wagner Group is expected to accelerate.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to Belarusian state news agency BelTA on the 27th (local time), President Alexander Lukashenko stated, "Prigozhin has currently arrived in Belarus, and we have provided one of the closed military bases to the Wagner Group mercenaries," adding, "It is fully equipped, and the mercenaries just need to pitch their tents."

Earlier, according to the flight tracking site Flightradar24, the Russian-registered Embraer 600 Legacy jet, known to be Prigozhin's private plane, took off from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia early that morning and descended near Minsk, the capital of Belarus, about 50 minutes later. Although Prigozhin has not yet appeared in public, it is presumed that he arrived in Belarus following President Lukashenko's mediation plan after the failed rebellion.

President Lukashenko expressed hope that "the Wagner Group will cooperate with the Belarusian military in the future," stating, "The experience of the Wagner Group will be helpful to the Belarusian military." According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Belarusian government is reportedly preparing to hand over a military base capable of accommodating about 7,000 to 8,000 people to the Wagner Group.

However, it remains uncertain how many Wagner Group mercenaries will move to Belarus. For the majority of Wagner Group mercenaries still remaining in Russia, the Russian government is said to have presented three options. According to CNN, the Russian Ministry of Defense offered the Wagner Group mercenaries the choice to either move to Belarus following Prigozhin, sign new contracts with the Ministry of Defense, or retire as they are. This aligns with the options President Vladimir Putin presented to the Wagner Group mercenaries in his earlier public address.

Accordingly, the Wagner Group, known to number about 25,000, is expected to be dismantled soon. The ISW explained, "Only about 4,000 troops participated in the military rebellion alongside Prigozhin," adding, "It is still uncertain whether the remaining mercenaries will extend their contracts with the Ministry of Defense and stay, or whether the unit will be disbanded and redeployed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.