«Plans regarding the fact that the Wagnerites will operate on the territory of neighboring countries are not discussed»
PMC «Wagner» sent to Belarus. According to the President of the country Alexander Lukashenko, the military company can benefit the Belarusian Defense Ministry. However, in Belarus, as in Russia, there is no law on the operation of private military companies, which means that the question of what legal acts will regulate the deployment and activities of fighters is relevant. «MK» tried to figure out what status PMC «Wagner» might have in Belarus.
According to someone close to the country's leadership, Alexander Lukashenko has already instructed the Ministry of Defense and the State Security Committee to work on this issue.
“In Russia, there is also no law on PMCs,” Gigin said in an interview with MK. — We have one security structure that has a similar status, but the issues of interaction with the power structures of Belarus and the status will still be worked out.
It is important to note that there are no «gray zones» in terms of the formation of any separate formations and groups that do not fit into the Belarusian legislation, we will not. But this topic still needs to be seriously worked on, since the political decision was made quite quickly.
As the President of Belarus said, the page connected with the events of June 23-24 had to be turned over. The answer to this question will be ready soon, since at the moment Yevgeny Prigozhin is already on the territory of Belarus. As for the rest of the «Wagnerites», a topic is being worked out related to how they see their future fate.
No special, separate camps will be built, no separate formation, everything is within the framework of Belarusian legislation, and if individual changes are needed, they will be made. Everything will depend on the proposal that will come from our interested services.»
— Firstly, it must be said that Alexander Lukashenko himself has great respect for the military path of the “Wagnerites”. They are valued by our military, for example, the Minister of Defense of Belarus said that such a unit would not hurt us.
But at the moment, the following types of interaction can be distinguished: exchange of combat experience, joint training with our armed forces, perhaps joint development of technology.
As for various stuffing about the protection of nuclear facilities, the protection of Russian tactical nuclear weapons deployed on the territory of Belarus, this will definitely not happen. Plans are not discussed for the Wagnerites to operate on the territories of neighboring countries.
— The President of Belarus, of course, is well aware of the activities that Wagner is conducting in Africa and various countries. At the moment, the issue of Wagner acting precisely in the interests of Belarus is not on the agenda.
If interests intersect somewhere, for example, in those countries where Belarusian enterprises operate, then I I don't see anything of the kind if it will be, for example, the protection of our facilities. But all this will be at the discretion of local governments.
After all, the format of Wagner's actions there is well-established: they work under a contract concluded with the official authorities of a particular country, including African countries. And this is determined not by Belarus or the Wagner group, but by the legislation and interests of the country in which they work.