Vladimir Putin: US and Ukraine are Responsible for Wagner Group Detention in Belarus

The detention of 33 members from the private Russian military company “Wagner” in Belarus in July was a joint operation by Ukrainian and American intelligence services. The Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin stated this.

“This was an operation of the Ukrainian special services together with the American ones. Now, it is reliably known. Some participants of this process or observers, people are well informed. They do not even hide it now,” he said in an interview.

At the same time, the Russian president noted that the detained “Wagnerians” were allegedly used in an unwitting fashion to deliver to Belarus and present them as a possible strike force to destabilise the situation during the elections in Belarus.

Putin also said that these militants “went to work to a third country. They were simply enticed into, pulled across the border.”

“Our border guards did not let them out, by the way, they could not enter. But according to fraudulent documents, they were actually imported,” the president said.

To recap, 33 members of a Russian private military company were detained near Minsk. Alexander Lukashenka, President of Belarus, has stated that their arrival is connected with an attempt to destabilise the situation in the country before the elections. According to the Belarusian special services, more than 200 militants had arrived in the country.

On 14 August, all the detainees were handed over to Russia, although Ukraine has requested that Belarus extradite 28 people suspected for their involvement in the Donbas war  on the pro-Russian militants side.

Bohdan Marusyak