Satellite images show Belarus is rapidly building what appears to be temporary structures at an abandoned military base, suggesting a possible site of Wagner fighters at work. give option about moving to the country after the group’s failed mutiny against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
The construction was first seen in satellite images taken on Monday by Planet Labs, a private company with a network of shoebox-sized satellites, two days after Wagner’s forces abruptly stopped marching into Moscow.
By Tuesday, images showed an approximately eight-acre sports field in the converted gated military facility, containing at least six rows of what appeared to be makeshift structures, like the big tent. Satellite images also show similar construction in vacant areas next to the sports field.
The size, color and layout of the structures are similar to other military camps already built in Russia and Belarus as of early 2022. The images appear blurry because they were taken by Planet Labs’ medium-resolution Dove satellites. The company’s higher-resolution satellites have so far failed to capture a clear image of the site since construction began.
The base is about 80 miles from the Belarusian capital Minsk and about 13 miles northwest of the town of Asipovichy, where several military facilities are located, including a training ground and ammunition depot.
The base was formerly used by the 465th Missile Brigade of Belarus, established in 1988 and move closer to Asipovichy in 2018. This unit is the only Belarusian brigade with a Russian language Iskander missilebased on William Albert, a nuclear weapons expert for the defense and security think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The Iskander missile is capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads.
A Planet Labs satellite image from mid-June shows the field at the old base completely empty and with little or no activity in other areas of the base.
There has been no official announcement as to where the Wagner mercenaries will be stationed in Belarus or when they will get there, and it is unclear if they will leave Russia or the battlefield in Ukraine or when. The Wagner army was also selected to join the Russian army this Saturday.
But an independent Russian news outlet, Verstka, on the first Monday report Asipovichy as a place to hold Wagner warriors. And the base also matches the details given by President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus in a declare on Tuesday, in which he described where the Wagner fighters could be located.
“We provided them with one of the abandoned bases. There’s a fence, everything’s there, go ahead, pitch the tent,” Lukashenko said. “We will help as much as we can.”
At some point after the base was vacated, the Asipovichy . regional government including 31 buildings at the base in a real estate listing, including barracks, canteens, and workshops.
In total, the listing said, the buildings are located on 37 acres of land. The post says they are being given away to grow the business; the list seems to be still active.
