Belarus creates private military company similar to Wagner Group

Belarusian Private security company Gardservis is preparing to participate in military operations; it’s the only such organisation in this country that enjoys the right to carry weapons and provide relevant services, which was granted by self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko.

Source: Valeriy Sakhashchyk, defence and security representative of Svetlana Tsykhanoyuskaya, the leader of opposition in exile, in a comment for Deutsche Welle

Details: According to him, Gardservis has significantly increased the number of employees, and its staff has been training for several months now.

Sakhashchyk believes that Gardservis personnel are being trained to participate in combat operations, and training is being conducted at several Belarusian training grounds.

Quote: "I know that officers of the 5th Special Forces Brigade (based in Maryina Horka, Minsk Oblast, Belarus) train Gardservis employees at their training ground. In addition, the company has taken over the base of the former Dynamo special training centre, where intense actions are also taking place."

Details: According to him, the number of employees has increased considerably recently. Sakhashchyk suggests that currently, there may be more than a thousand of them.

Quote: "Training and recruitment have been going on for several months now. The staff was replenished by officers, warrant officers, sergeants and soldiers who served in the Special Operations Forces and Special Forces of law enforcement agencies of Belarus."

Details: The DW [Deutsche Welle] source believes that Gardservis employees can be used in sabotage and reconnaissance groups, and also for assault operations.

Sakhashchik claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin has invested "a lot" in Gardservis and is creating a "Belarusian equivalent of Wagner Group" based on it.

Publications reiterate that in summer 2022, independent media cited an anonymous employee of Gardservis, who claimed that at the end of July and in August, mercenaries from the Wagner Group arrived in Minsk to train employees of a private security company. The source noted that at that time there were about 500 people in Gardservice and that, according to rumours, employees were promised business trips and a salary of about 3,700 euros in the future.

Background: Gardservis appeared in Belarus in June 2020. At the same time, by a personal decree, Lukashenka allowed its employees to carry, store and use official and civilian weapons, as well as special devices and to apply physical force.

According to DW, Gardservis is highly classified; only "verified" people can get there.

The company was given a special training centre, where Special Forces from Belarus and other countries, mainly African and South American, used to practise.

In 2021, the Belarusian Interior Ministry published lists of weapons that Gardservis has. In particular, there were pistols, submachine guns and sniper rifles.

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