On Thursday, mercenaries from the Russian military company Wagner engaged in joint drills with the Belarusian military, marking their return to cooperation almost a month after their brief rebellion against Moscow.

In response to these war games, Poland bolstered its troop presence on its border with Belarus.

The decision for these maneuvers followed a commitment by Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to assist in safeguarding Belarus from potential threats and strengthening its military capabilities.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry stated that the drills, scheduled to last a week, would be held at a firing range near Brest, a city situated on the border with Poland, the Associated Press has reported.

A video released on Wednesday featured Prigozhin for the first time since he led last month’s mutiny.

In the recording, he addressed his troops, announcing that before their deployment to Africa, they would provide training in Belarus with the aim of making the Belarusian army the second strongest in the world.

Prior to the unsuccessful rebellion led by Prigozhin, Wagner mercenaries had fought alongside Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and were also deployed to Syria and various African countries since the private army’s establishment in 2014.

In response to alleged attacks on civilians and other human rights abuses in Africa, the U.K. government imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 13 Wagner mercenaries on Thursday.

Previously, Britain had sanctioned Prigozhin and several other Wagner commanders due to the group’s involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Written by staff