Belarus

MINSK, August 1. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he plans to expedite the establishment of a contracted army using PMC Wagner fighters billeted in Belarus as the backbone of these forces.

"It was my initiative. I want these guys to stay in our country’s armed forces. And, relying on them, to take more active steps to establish a contracted army," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

Aug 1 (Reuters) - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday taunted Poland over the presence of Russian Wagner mercenaries near the NATO country's border, saying Warsaw should thank him for keeping them in check.

An unspecified number of the Wagner fighters who staged a brief mutiny in Russia in June have since moved to Belarus and have begun training Lukashenko's army, prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 of its own troops closer to the border.

(AP) --- A large convoy carrying fighters from the Wagner private army was spotted entering Belarus from Russia early Saturday, a monitoring group reported after the country’s Defense Ministry said it planned for the mercenaries and Minsk’s own armed forces to conduct joint military drills.

The independent monitoring group Belaruski Hajun, which tracks the movements of armed forces in Belarus, said that at least 60 trucks, buses and other large vehicles crossed into the Eastern European country accompanied by Belarusian police.

MINSK, July 6 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko dismissed on Thursday a description that he was "Europe's last dictator", saying that he was not a dictator but that if he were, he would certainly not be the last.

Lukashenko, 68, has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994 and in an interview with Reuters in 2012 had relished his notoriety as Europe’s last dictator.

MINSK, July 6 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that the mutinous chief of Russia's Wagner group was still in Russia with thousands of fighters, but dismissed speculation that President Vladimir Putin would have Yevgeny Prigozhin killed.

Lukashenko helped broker a deal to end last month's mutiny, the gravest challenge to Putin in his 23 years in power, under which Prigozhin was supposed to stand down his mercenaries and move to Belarus in exchange for Putin dropping charges.

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his Wagner troops are in their field camps, the president of Belarus said Thursday, raising new questions about the deal that ended the extraordinary challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

MINSK, July 2. /TASS/: Belarus’ embassy in the Hague said on Sunday it was attacked by unidentified persons.

"The incident occurred in the early hours on July 2," the embassy said, adding that the attackers broke windows and stained the facade.

"The attackers were detained by the Dutch police," it noted.

According to the Dutch broadcaster, the attackers tossed stones at the embassy building breaking several windows and wrote various slogans on its walls, including whose accusing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of terrorism.

(AP) --- Satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press on Saturday showed what appeared to be a newly built military-style camp in Belarus, with statements from a Belarusian guerrilla group and officials suggesting it may be used to house fighters from the Wagner mercenary group.

June 29 (Reuters) - Satellite images of a military base southeast of the Belarus capital Minsk appear to show new facilities set up in recent days, suggesting the swift construction of a base for Wagner, the Russian mercenary company behind an abortive mutiny.

Russian media have reported that Wagner, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday, could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 90 km (50 miles) from Minsk.

(AP) --- As life in Russia returned to normal after an armed rebellion by a mercenary group, tensions were rising in and around its neighbor Belarus, where the exiled leader of the force and some of its fighters were settling in.

Moving to Belarus was part of the deal the Kremlin struck with Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military company, to end last weekend’s rebellion that rattled Russia’s leadership.