OSIPOVICHI /Mogilev Region/, July 7. /TASS/. The tent camp that Minsk offered to the Wagner PMC can accommodate roughly 5,000 people, as well as military vehicles, says Major General Leonid Kasinsky, aide to Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin.

"Theoretically, the capacity of this camp is about 5,000 people," the Major General said, answering a question from a TASS reporter. "Theoretically, [combat] vehicles can be stationed anywhere. It all depends on how many of these vehicles there are. [The site] is a former military camp. The infrastructure has been preserved: there used to be garages [for vehicles,] an artillery brigade used to stay there," the aide said.

During a June 6 meeting with foreign and Belarusian reporters, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk offered "several former military camps that were used back during the Soviet era" to the Wagner PMC, including the one near Osipovichi. The Belarusian president noted that the PMC leadership "has a different view on accommodation," although he already told them that "one should live in civilized conditions, especially in Belarus." Lukashenko also said that the issue of relocating PMC fighters that are currently in Russia has not been resolved yet, because "this depends on the leadership of the Russian Federation."

On the evening of June 23, several audio recordings were posted on Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Telegram channel. In particular, he claimed that his units had come under attack, blaming the Russian military. The Russian Defense Ministry slammed the Wagner boss’ allegations of a military strike on the PMC’s "rear camps" as fake news. The PMC units supporting Prigozhin occupied Rostov-on-Don and then headed toward Moscow. The FSB opened a criminal case concerning calls for armed mutiny. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address to the nation on June 24, described the Wagner group’s actions as an armed mutiny and a betrayal.

Later, Lukashenko, in coordination with Putin, held talks with Prigozhin, resulting in Wagner standing down, turning its units around, and retreating to their base camps. The Kremlin said that the Russian authorities pledged not to prosecute those Wagner PMC fighters who took part in the mutiny in light of their "frontline achievements," while Prigozhin "will go to Belarus." The criminal case on armed mutiny was dropped, the FSB said.