A camp capable of accommodating 8,000 PMC Wagner mercenaries is currently under construction in the Belarusian town of Asipovichy, Verstka media outlet reports.
An anonymous source says there will be a few more camps. Asipovichy is located 200 km from the Ukraine-Belarus border. It is said that the camp will be 24,000 square metres large.
Another Verstka’s source close to the local governor’s office has also confirmed that the local authorities had been instructed to erect a PMC Wagner camp in the region. The mercenaries will be relocated to Belarus, as confirmed by their family members.
On 23 June, the Wagner Group announced that units of the Russian Defence Ministry had struck a mercenary camp. The ministry denied this. Later, Prigozhin announced a “march of justice” on Russian territory.
In the early hours of 24 June, the FSB opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for organising an armed uprising. The special service stated that the Wagner chief’s actions are “essentially calls for starting an armed civil conflict” on Russian territory and are “a knife in the back” for Russian troops.
By the afternoon of 24 June, the Wagner troops had taken control of Russia’s southern cities of Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh, and started advancing on Moscow. However, in the evening of the same day, Belarus’ Alyaksandar Lukashenka came up with a statement saying he held talks with Prigozhin and managed to convince the insurgent to stop the advance on Moscow.
Later on, Prigozhin announced that the Wagnerites would return to their field camps.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on the evening of 24 June that criminal charges against Prigozhin had been dropped and that the Wagner chief would leave for Belarus.
