This was reported by the Russian edition BILD.
The head of the State Council Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, said on Russian television that the Wagner PMC was sent to Belarus not only to train the Belarusian armed forces.
"There is a Suwalki Gap. And we need this Suwalki Gap in case of emergency," the deputy said.
He noted that Wagner's PMC should become "a ready-made punching bag that will take this unfortunate corridor in a matter of hours."
For reference. The Suwalki Gap is a land corridor between Poland and the Baltic states, which also separates Belarus from the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation. Seizing this territory would cut off Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia from other NATO countries and open a direct route between the Kaliningrad region and Belarus.
For several months, there has been a conflict between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier of Wagner PMC, and the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, the situation escalated quickly on the evening of June 23.
Allegedly, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the Wagner base. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC, announced a "march of justice" and stated that 25,000 mercenaries were heading to Moscow after the Russian leadership refused to hand over Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
The militants entered several regions and moved towards the Russian capital, while at the entrance to Moscow they built firing points, dug trenches and mobilised all security forces.
However, on the evening of June 24, the press service of the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, released a statement in which the head of the Wagner PMC stated that he was ready to stop the advance of his mercenaries' military convoys, which were already approaching Moscow, and to reach an agreement with the Kremlin. Prigozhin allegedly agreed on this during a conversation with Lukashenko.
Subsequently, Prigozhin and all his fighters left the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District. Russian leader Vladimir Putin promised that Prigozhin would be able to go to Belarus, and Russia would drop the criminal case against him.
On June 26, Putin gave a speech in which he offered the Wagner PMC fighters three options for future actions: join the Russian Defense Forces, go to Belarus with other PMC members, or return to their families.
On June 27, the Federal Security Service of Russia announced that it dropped the criminal case related to the armed plot, in which Wagner PMC leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was involved.
On the same day, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus confirmed the arrival of Yevgeny Prigozhin in the country. According to him, the Wagner mercenaries who arrived with him would not guard the Russian tactical nuclear weapons stationed there.
On July 11, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense stated that the Wagner mercenaries would train the Belarusian army.
On July 14, media reported that training sessions with units of the territorial troops were taking place near Asipovichy (Belarus), where Wagner PMC fighters were acting as instructors in some military disciplines.
On July 15, a large Wagner PMC convoy arrived in Belarus.