Risks of Wagner Group's escape to Belarus will be discussed at next Supreme Commander-in-Chief meeting – National Security and Defence Secretary
The placement of mercenaries of the Wagner Group in Belarus will be discussed at the next Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
Source: Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC), on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast
Details: Danilov emphasised that at first it is necessary to see where the Wagnerites will end up, what their number will be, what threats they will pose, and whether 8-8,500 mercenaries will appear in Belarus.
According to the Secretary of the National Security Council, there are not so many of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s fighters there now.
However, in a short period of time, a camp of summer tents was set up for the members of the Wagner Group.
Quote from Danilov: "We will be watching very closely what the purpose of all this is. Either to annoy Lithuania or Poland or to keep our troops on the border under tension.
We will be watching this issue very closely tomorrow. I can say that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has instructed the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to consider this issue, taking into account information from the intelligence community and the Commander-in-Chief. At the next meeting of the Staff, this issue will be discussed."
Details: Danilov emphasised that the members of the Wagner Group are terrorists who travel around the world on planes. In his opinion, the world should react more strongly to this.
Previously: General Richard Dannatt, Former Chief of the General Staff of the UK, believes that Ukraine should beware of a possible attack on Kyiv by the Wagner Group mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who left for Belarus after the rebellion attempt.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed the opinion that the fact that Wagner Group fighters are now being transferred to Belarus does not pose a threat to Ukraine.
Background:
- On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
- On 24 June, the Wagnerites took control of military facilities in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and seized military facilities in the city of Voronezh. They were on their way to Moscow, and the Russian capital was preparing for defence.
- In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that attempts were being made to "organise a rebellion" in the country. Ukrainian intelligence said he had urgently left Moscow for a bunker in Valdai.
- On June 24, following a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were heading back to the field camps. He had been promised that the criminal charges against him in Russia were to be dropped, and he was supposed to "leave for Belarus".
- On 26 June, Prigozhin claimed that the purpose of his march on Moscow was to protect the Wagner Group from being wiped out, as the mercenaries had to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence by 1 July, which they did not wish to do. He also claimed that he had stopped in order to "avoid shedding Russian blood" when Lukashenko suggested finding a way for the Wagner Group to continue operating in a "legitimate jurisdiction".
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