Prigozhin founds company in Belarus – media

This information is contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs of the Ministry of Justice of Belarus, Reform.by reported on 22 July 2023.

According to the publication, Concord Management and Consulting Limited Liability Company with a statutory fund of 200 Belarusian rubles (about USD 80) was registered by the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee on July 19, 2023 and received a taxpayer identification number (TIN) 791314882.

The address of registration: Republic of Belarus, 213727, Mogilev region, Asipovichi district, Protasevichi village council, Tsil village, Vostochnaya street, house 2a. This village is the location of the field camp where the soldiers of Wagner's PMC arrived from Russia.

The main activity of the new company is declared to be "real estate management".

The 100% owner of the Belarusian company is a Russian LLC with the exact same name, Concord Management and Consulting (1037843002515), and the head is Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin.

The mercenaries will not sit idle in the new place, Podolyak says

"It is clear that Wagner mercenaries will not be able to sit idle in tent camps in Belarus: to maintain their combat capability, they need regular participation in hostilities and "sweet" financial flows. In this matter, Prigozhin has little room for maneuver. Periodic raids by subversive groups in the north of Kyiv region are a ungrateful task: the Ukrainian border is securely fortified, the targets are vague, and our border guards are only too happy to unholster their weapons. The border of Poland and the Baltic States, in particular the Suwalki Isthmus, which is so tempting for Russia, is another matter," said Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on July 22.

"Russia's hybrid aggression against NATO with the help of 'grey men' is perfectly in line with the strategy of raising the stakes to pressure allies to support Ukraine. The readiness of NATO countries to fight back against the armed group is not yet clear, and uncertainty is perceived by Russia as weakness and is a fertile ground for provocations," Podolyak added.

Officially, the Wagner soldiers arrived in Belarus to train the local armed forces, in particular, in territorial defence.

There are currently 5,000 Wagner soldiers in Belarus

According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, as of July 22, there are approximately 5,000 Russian mercenaries of the Wagner PMC in Belarus. The spokesman for the Ukrainian border guards, Colonel Andriy Demchenko, told Ukrainska Pravda about this.

"Initially, when groups of Russian mercenaries began to enter Belarus, their number was estimated at hundreds. However, now, given the available information about groups of representatives of private military companies, their number is certainly different and can reach about 5,000," the spokesman said.

• After the failure of Prigozhin's mutiny in Russia, the Wagner soldiers relocated to Belarus.
• They arrived there in several convoys. The mercenaries claim that they did not take military equipment and heavy weapons with them to Belarus.
• Prigozhin is also currently in Belarus.
• The direct leadership of the Wagner soldiers in this country will be carried out by a Russian, Sergei Chubko, with the callsign Pioneer.