A key member of the Belarusian opposition claims the country could be forming a cell of mercenaries similar to Russia's infamous Wagner Group, raising concerns of a potentially new wrinkle in Ukrainian efforts to fight the nearly year-old invasion into the country by Russian forces and its allies.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle—a state-owned German news outlet—Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's defense and security representative Valeriy Sakhashchyk claimed Belarus' state-backed security company, Gardservis, has "significantly increased" its number of employees in recent months, and could be preparing to participate in military operations.
"The training and recruitment have been going on for several months," he told the outlet. "The staff has been increased by officers, ensigns, sergeants and soldiers who served in the special operations forces and in the special units of the law enforcement agencies of Belarus."
Newsweek has contacted the Belarusian government for comment.
The company is the only one of its kind in the country that current leader Alexander Lukashenko—a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin—has allowed to have firearms since its entry on the scene in mid-2020, boasting highly trained personnel working in tandem with the government and its military.
The company has also faced international scrutiny from the U.S. Department of the Treasury following its role in suppressing a number of protests against the Lukashenko regime in 2021, with federal officials imposing sanctions on Gardservis and a number of other entities "to address the Lukashenko regime's repression, corruption, and flaunting of internationally recognized human rights."
Still, it appears things have been heating up there. In recent weeks, Sakhashchyk claims the company payroll has eclipsed more than 1,000 employees, all of whom receiving training in combat operations from officers in the Belarusian special forces at several Belarusian training grounds.
That said, it is still an open question whether Belarus would enter the war.
While the country relies heavily on its alliance with Russia, Lukashenko had previously told Belarusian media he would not institute a mobilization similar to the one Russia declared on September 22, explicitly stating: "We will fight only when we have to defend our home, our land."
However, Lukashenko has faced significant pressure to enter the war, including fielding a visit from Putin in December intended to draw Belarusian forces into the conflict. Recent reports outlined calls from Belarus encouraging male residents to sign up for the military.
And in recent weeks, the country has begun receiving new shipments of weapons from Russia, raising concerns Belarus could soon take a more active role in the conflict by allowing Russian forces to enter Ukraine through its shared border with the country, prompting Ukrainian forces to begin conducting war games in the region.
Pentagon officials downplayed those concerns in a press briefing this week.
"We do know that the Russians and the Belarusians are going to train together," a senior official with the U.S. Department of Defense told reporters in a Monday press briefing. "We are not seeing any indications that Belarus has the intent to enter into the conflict. We just believe it's continued training between the Belarusians and the Russians."
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Nick Reynolds is a senior politics reporter at Newsweek. A native of Central New York, he previously worked as a ... Read more
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