Sarts sees no direct military threat from Wagner mercenaries in Belarus

RIGA - Janis Sarts, Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence in Riga, sees no direct military threat from the Wagner mercenaries deployed in Belarus.

In an interview with TV3 this morning, Sarts pointed out that Wagner currently has too few forces in Belarus to achieve such a goal, and that their weapons are inadequate for such military purposes.

At the same time, provocations involving Wagner mercenaries at the border cannot be ruled out. Sarts pointed out that some of the Wagner fighters are also former special forces who have been trained to carry out diversionary operations.

However, Sarts pointed out that it should be remembered that Wagner is a mercenary group, as long as they are not paid, they do nothing. Sarts also pointed out that they are currently "quite poorly funded" in Belarus.

The threat level from Wagner has also decreased for the time being, as it does not look like anyone is ready to finance sabotage. "But that may change," said Sarts.

As reported, according to the Latvian Ministry of Defense (MoD), the current movement of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus does not pose a direct threat to Latvia.

The MoD stresses that Latvia, together with its allies, is closely monitoring Wagner's deployment in Belarus and is constantly receiving intelligence information and data on the group's movements, technical equipment and weapons at its disposal.

"The future of Wagner was uncertain for several weeks following the mutiny organized by the group's founder, Evgeny Prigozhin. The mutiny was ended when Prigozhin and Wagner fighters were offered asylum in Belarus on June 24.