Lukashenko: it’s necessary to create contract army more actively
In his conversation with the residents of the agro-town of Belovezhsky, the President of Belarus touched upon the topic of the presence of PMC Wagner units in Belarus
In this context, he pointed to the tense situation at our borders, “Ukraine used to be far away, but today we are worried that God forbid this fire does not spread to us. It isn’t cheap to hold back the southern border. Our western neighbours are going crazy. I just don’t know why they need it. We lived peacefully and calmly, no one strained each other. Mad people came to power, it can’t be called otherwise, and all hell broke loose.”
According to the Head of State, the peoples of Poland and the Baltic States are already beginning to realise the abnormality of such a situation. Moreover, Belarus does not close itself off from them, but is set up for good neighbourliness. As far as PMC Wagner is concerned, in this situation it will be able to work to strengthen Belarus’ defence capability.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, “I promised these guys that I will guarantee their safety. We will take them to Belarus, they will settle down, and we’ll deal further. This is what we’re doing now. To be honest, I want to keep this division. These are real fighters who went through the war, who lost a lot of their friends. They help us absolutely for free, passing on their experience even though they are mercenaries, and they fought and worked everywhere for money.”
The Belarusian Head of State pointed to an unhealthy reaction towards rumours that a detachment of 100 Wagner members had been deployed to the western borders of Belarus, “No detachments of PMC Wagner, 100 people, moved here. And if they moved, only in order to transfer combat experience to the brigade, which is concentrated in Brest and Grodno. I have to train my military, because an army that doesn’t fight is half an army. You, too, understand this very well. I don’t want to fight. I don’t want our guys to die. Therefore, they must be taught. So Wagner fighters pass on their experience: they will advise, they will say something. They’re very pleased with our soldiers, saying that these are very prepared people, and, most importantly, they want to learn.”
The President said that being near Osipovichi, in the centre of Belarus, these Wagner formations are not going anywhere, “They are used to following orders. Many went to the armed forces units, a few joined the Russian Armed Forces, some see themselves in a different capacity: some in Africa, a certain part will remain with us. I underline once again that it was my initiative, and I do not regret it; I want to leave these guys in the Armed Forces of our country, and relying on this, to more actively create a contract army.”
The Head of State explained, “There are experienced people, mostly officers, whose life and profession are to fight or defend the country. They say it’s cheaper. Therefore, we are looking at this experience in order to protect ourselves in the future. This is our only goal. Don’t worry. We do not aspire to war, and I think that everything will be fine. If the enemy sees that we will respond and that they will suffer irreparable losses, unacceptable to them, they will never attack. This is the basis of military affairs.”
