In the village of Tsel near Osipovichi in Belarus, the Wagner camp is being actively dismantled – this is evidenced by a satellite image of the Planet Labs service.
Source: Radio Svaboda
Details: According to the publication, a third of the tents have already been removed.
At first, there were about 129 tents in the northern part of the Wagner military base, as of August 23, about 65 of them disappeared.
In the western part of the military camp, about 27 tents were dismantled out of about 64 that were previously.
There were about 80 tents in the central part of the base – now about 9 of them are missing.
The publication emphasizes that in this way, out of 273 residential tents, about 101 were dismantled. And given that about 20 soldiers can be accommodated in each of the tents, then about 2020 Wagnerites could leave the territory of the military unit in the village of Tzel out of about 5000 who were there.
It is reported that the dismantling of the first tents began around 1 August.
On a satellite image from August 14, it is possible to see the dismantling process in good quality – in particular, you can see wooden plank beds for the soldiers who lived there.
It is not yet known where these tents could have been transported and whether the Wagner mercenaries left the territory of Belarus.
Radio Svaboda notes that the satellite images at the disposal of the editors do not show the formation of such tent camps on the territory of other Belarusian training grounds or military units. Journalists continue to monitor the situation.
Telegram channels associated with the PMC Wagner write that some of the military are sent home to Russia on long vacations.
It is also possible that part of the Wagner mercenaries began to be transferred to Africa.
It is also possible that some of the Wagnerites will be transferred to other places in Belarus.
In particular, earlier it was reported that dugouts suitable for living in winter conditions were equipped on the territory of the Repischa military training ground. A satellite image from July 31, 2023 shows about 30 new objects that have appeared at this site.
What happened before: On the evening of August 23, a small plane crashed in the Tver region of Russia, the Federal Air Transport Agency claims that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC, was among the passengers.
The Gray Zone Telegram channel, close to the Wagner PMC, claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane was shot down by air defense fire. They also write that a terrorist attack on board is being considered as a version of the crash of Prigozhin’s plane .
The Federal Air Transport Agency has published a complete list of passengers of the plane that crashed in the Tver region on the evening of August 23, it also includes the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The Russian media saw some symbolism in the fact that the plane crashed on August 23, exactly two months after the Wagner PMC mutiny (Prigozhin announced his “justice march” on the evening of June 23 – ed.).
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) are inclined to believe that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin avenged the humiliation of the rebellion and ordered the destruction of the Wagner PMC leadership.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine had nothing to do with the death in Russia of the leader of the Wagner PMC mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Background:
- The Wagner group fought in Ukraine, especially actively in Bakhmut, but at the end of spring they left for field camps.
- On June 24, PMC “Wagner” started an armed rebellion in Russia due to a conflict with the military command of the Russian Federation, but in the evening of that day, after a conversation with the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that his mercenaries were returning to field camps . The criminal case against Prigozhin was closed in the Russian Federation, he was supposed to “go to Belarus” .
- On July 11, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus announced that an “exchange of experience” between the mercenaries of PMC “Wagner” and the Armed Forces of Belarus would take place at the Belarusian training grounds. On July 14, near Osipovichi, mercenaries were already training with units of the territorial troops of the Republic of Belarus .
Source : Pravda
