Image copyright EPAAuthorities in Belarus say they have arrested 33 suspected Russian mercenaries believed to be plotting “terrorism” ahead of the country’s 9 August presidential election.
Russia is seeking clarification on the arrests, a Kremlin spokesman said.
Dmitry Peskov said he knew nothing of a plot or the Wagner paramilitary group, which Belarus suspects of involvement.
President Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and is seeking a sixth term in office.
He has exerted authoritarian control over Belarus in a style reminiscent of the Soviet era and has faced a wave of opposition protests over his re-election bid.
The secretary of the Belarus Security Council, Andrey Rawkow, said investigators suspected as many as 200 Russian mercenaries had entered the country to “destabilise the situation during the election campaign”.
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The Investigative Committee (SK), handling the case, says it is investigating possible links between the Russian suspects and the jailed husband of opposition presidential candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Syarhey Tsikhanouski, a popular opposition blogger, is accused of trying to foment mass unrest, despite being in jail. He faces other charges too.
“Tsikhanouski, [Mikola] Statkevich and 33 detained Russian citizens – they acted together,” SK spokesman Sergei Kabakovich told the AFP news agency.
Mr Statkevich, a veteran opposition activist, is also in jail.
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Andrey Rawkow said 14 of the detained Russians had fought in Ukraine’s Donbas conflict, describing their presence in Belarus as a “very unpleasant situation”.
Reports by UN investigators, the US military and journalists have documented Wagner group operations in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic. The Russian government denies any links to the group.
Read more about the Wagner group:
The SK statement said that on Wednesday the authorities had “arrested 33 citizens of the Russian Federation, members of the Wagner PMC [private military company], who were staying at the Belorusochka sanatorium in Minsk district”.
Video footage of the group’s arrest showed they had Sudanese currency and a Sudanese phone card with them. The Wagner group is known to be active in Sudan, and there is speculation that it was using Belarus as a transit country for African operations.
In Moscow, Mr Peskov said on Thursday: “We know 33 Russians were detained yesterday in Belarus. Two hundred are still at large. We do not know of any illegal activity that would be grounds for their detention.”
He also said there was “no such concept” as “Wagner PMC” in Russia.
“There are already insinuations that some organisations from Russia are sending someone to destabilise the situation in Belarus. Or course it is nothing but insinuations,” he said.
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