MINSK, August 25. /TASS/. The main cohort of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) remains on the territory of Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko said.

"Wagner has lived, Wagner lives, and Wagner will live in Belarus, no matter what anyone wants or doesn't want. Together with [PMC Wagner founder Yevgeny] Prigozhin, we have created a system of how Wagner will function here. And these pictures [spread by Western media] from space, that we are dismantling something [in the Wagner camp near the town of Osipovichi, Mogilev Region]… Why we are removing extra tents - we don't need so many. The core [of the group] remains here, some have gone on vacation, some have decided to live in the suburbs. However, we do know their phone numbers, addresses and so on," the BelTA news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying.

According to the Belarusian president, if necessary, "within a few days, everyone will be here, up to 10,000 people." "There is no need to keep them here now. That's why they're not going anywhere. As long as we need this unit, they will live and work with us," Lukashenko pointed out.

"We will keep our promise, they know the conditions. And by the way, they pay us for everything: for the tent and for water. <...> They live in tents, we are also repairing their barracks," the president said.

According to him, the Belarusian authorities are not afraid of the presence of a group of militarily trained fighters in the country. At the same time, Belarusian servicemen are actively soaking up the experience of the group’s fighters, especially the units of the Interior Ministry's Internal Troops and Special Forces.

"I was apprehensive, reading your (reporters’ - TASS) and your colleagues' writings: these are convicts, and so on. Look, we don’t need them to take an elderly woman across the street. They are amazing people. They have an iron will. Fear the wolf, don't go into the woods, as we say. We don't keep them here for fun, we keep them here for utility. And we have created a system where everything is under control," Lukashenko assured.