The 60-vehicle motorcade crossed into Belarus from Russia in the early hours of Saturday, accompanied by Belarusian police, the Belaruski Hajun organisation said on social media.
It comprised trucks, buses and other large vehicles with licence plates from Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, where the Wagner mercenaries had fought in the Kremlin’s invasion, until a short-lived revolt in June, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
The convoy proceeded from the Krichev passing to a military base near the town of Osipovichi, which is located 230 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border, according to news outlets.
Reports of the arrival of Wagner fighters come after Belarus' Defence Ministry said it planned for the mercenaries to conduct joint military exercises with the Belarusian army, The Guardian reported.
Satellite images analysed by the Associated Press news agency earlier this month showed rows of tent-like structures apparently built at the military base between June 15 and 30, according to the UK newspaper.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service on Saturday also confirmed it had recorded the presence of Wagner troops in Belarus, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukraine’s border guard said on the Telegram social messaging app: “Wagner is in Belarus: the border guards record the movement of Russian mercenaries.”
The agency’s chief Andriy Demchenko stated: “"According to the currently available information, individual groups of representatives of private military companies have been noticed in Belarus, [they are] moving from the territory of Russia.”
Demchenko added that Ukrainian border guards continued to monitor the situation so as to detect the location, number and tasks of the mercenaries, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal to end the Wagner rebellion last month, after the mercenaries took control of the Russian city of Rostov and marched towards Moscow, the Kyiv Post website reported.
Under the agreement, the group’s head Yevgeny Prigozhin stood down his fighters and agreed they would move to Belarus in exchange for Russia dropping charges, Kyiv Post noted.
On Thursday, the US Department of Defense said that Wagner Group mercenaries were no longer taking part in combat operations in Ukraine in “any significant capacity.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Saturday is day 507 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, Interfax-Ukraine, The Guardian, Kyiv Post