Belarus's internationally isolated leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has urged Belarusians not to "worry" about the presumed arrival of Wagner mercenaries after their aborted mutiny in Russia, as satellite imagery emerged of a tent camp springing up in the east that RFE/RL's Belarus Service estimates could house around 15,000 soldiers.
Lukashenka was speaking on June 30 ahead of Independence Day on July 3, telling the country that he's run with an iron fist for three decades, "Calm down."
Wagner mercenaries had been essential to Russia's war effort up until their boss Yevgeny Prigozhin led thousands of them in an apparent mutiny and march toward Moscow, complaining of army incompetence.
Lukashenka reportedly mediated between Prigozhin and President Vladimir Putin's regime at the height of the crisis on June 24, including offering haven for Prigozhin and an untold number of his fighters.
SEE ALSO: Ukraine Live Briefing: Russia's 'Psychological Operations'In his speech, he said of the Wagner transfers to Belarus that "this problem has been inflated."
Prigozhin heavily recruited among hardened criminals and other prisoners to fill the Wagner ranks.
"These are the most prepared people," Lukashenka said. "They say, 'There are prisoners.' Listen, all the soldiers who were convicted [of crimes] there [in Russia], they have already died, unfortunately. And one more nuance that they don't want to explain: Convicts were released from prisons in Russia only for the Russian front. Not a single person [from among the inmates recruited to fight in Ukraine] goes abroad."
Details of the Kremlin's deal with Minsk are unclear, but Prigozhin was thought to have traveled there on a private jet.
RFE/RL's Belarusian Service has obtained satellite images that show the construction of what looks like a new military field camp near the village of Tsel, in the Asipouitsky district of the Mahilyow region of eastern Belarus, less than 100 kilometers from the Russian border.
SEE ALSO: Belarus Is Reviving An Abandoned Garrison. For Whom?It is larger than most of the other known field camps in Belarus.
Belarusian officials have not disclosed its intended purpose.
The tent site is more than 100 kilometers north of the border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on June 30 said after consulting with security and intelligence officials that he had ordered the bolstering of defenses in Ukraine's northern military sector, which abuts Belarus.
SEE ALSO: Zelenskiy Girds Northern Ukraine As Kyiv Claims New Hold On 'Strategic Initiative'Local residents said repair and construction work at Tsel began in June.
But as late as June 17, according to satellite imagery provided by Planet.com and published by RFE/RL's Belarusian Service, there were no traces of any future deployment there. No camp is visible in the satellite photo from June 24.
But images taken on June 27 show field tents and excavation pits, new facilities, and other signs of construction.
RFE/RL's Belarusian Service counted at least 303 tents that weren't at the site on June 24.
Dozens of rectangular objects that appear to be field tents for housing are visible, including on platforms next to older buildings.
There is no weaponry or other military equipment visible in the photos.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lukashenka has allowed Russia's military to stage operations from Belarusian territory and recently permitted Russian tactical nuclear missiles to be stationed there.
On June 30, he said he was certain Russian tactical nuclear weapons deployed in his country would never be used. After saying he was" more and more convinced that they must be stationed" in Belarus, Lukashenka added, "I'm certain that we will never have to use them while they are here. And no enemy will ever set foot on our land."
Lukashenka increased his reliance on Putin and his international isolation when he unleashed a crackdown following a flawed presidential election in 2020 in which he asserted a victory to give him a sixth presidential term.
Thousands of Belarusians were detained and the opposition's leaders forced into exile or arrested alongside other strictures on the press, speech, and assembly.