MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Kiev considers PMC Wagner’s presence in Belarus as a threat and is closely monitoring the situation in that country, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Alexey Danilov said on Friday.
"The emergence of new threats, including those related to the activities <…> of PMC Wagner, is being monitored and is still on the agenda. Ukraine closely follows and analyzes the entire spectrum of security matters, in particular, the movements <…> of troops and weapons in Belarus and other territories bordering Ukraine."
Meanwhile, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny said in an interview with The Washington Post that the Wagner Group is one of his biggest fears.
On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the PMC Wagner, said on his Telegram channel that his units had been attacked and accused the military leadership of Russia of doing so. The Defense Ministry dismissed these allegations as false. PMC Wagner units who agreed to support Prigozhin headed for Rostov-on-Don and towards Moscow. The FSB (Federal Security Service) opened a case over the call for armed mutiny. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised address described the PMC Wagner’s actions as treason.
Later, by agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin. The PMC Wagner’s convoys turned back and returned to their field camps. On Tuesday, the FSB’s public relations center said the criminal case had been dropped. Later, Lukashenko said that he had offered Prigozhin an abandoned military compound to station his fighters. He also promised security guarantees to Prigozhin.