Tsel/ "Target"

Tsel, a name literally means target, is a village and former military base in Asipovichy District of Mogilev Region in Belarus. It is part of the Pratasevichy Village Council (Selsoviet). Located on the Svislach river roughly 20 km (12 miles) northwest of Asipovichy and 90 km (56 miles) southeast of Minsk.

A spokesperson for Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said 25 July 2023 that it had observed groups of Wagner fighters crossing from Russia into Belarus, after the Belarusian defence ministry said it planned for the mercenaries and Minsk's own armed forces to conduct joint military drills. An independent Belarusian monitoring group said that at least 60 trucks, buses and other large vehicles had crossed into the eastern European country.

Separately, an independent monitoring group reported that a large convoy carrying fighters from the Wagner private army was spotted entering Belarus from Russia, after the Belarusian defense ministry said it planned for the mercenaries and Minsk's own armed forces to conduct joint military drills. The 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.

The convoy headed toward a military base outside Osipovichi, a town 230 kilometres (142 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, Belaruski Hajun said. Satellite images analysed by AP this month showed rows of tent-like structures that appeared to have been built at the base between June 15 and June 30. The Belarusian defense ministry said in an online statement that it had developed a “road map” with Wagner’s management for joint training exercises for the nation's military personnel and the private mercenaries.

Tsel was founded as a Red Army military base in 1936. A missile battalion from Klintsy was based in Tsel during the Soviet period. When the 22nd Missile Brigade relocated from Hungary to Belarus, it took over the base at Tsel. A village was built to house the families of the servicemen, who with their families together numbered 1,500. The 465th Missile Brigade took over the base when the 22nd Brigade was disbanded in 2005. The base was abandoned in 2018 after the 465th relocated to the Yuzhny military base on the outskirts of Asipovichy. In June 2023 refurbishment efforts began at the base, identified by analysts as efforts to house Russian troops. The village includes a primary and secondary school and is the location of dachas of Minsk and Asipovichy residents.

In 2018 the relocation of rocket men to the regional center was a strong shock for the residents of Tselya. Many worries were connected with her, but they did not seem to be justified. There is a steady demand for vacated housing, so there are practically no empty houses left in the village. It's understandable: it's only 100 km from Minsk along the highway, a river, a forest... For citizens who dream of buying a dacha, the Purpose is an excellent option. And for the village, the influx of new people, even summer residents, is useful. They repair their property, make it more modern, so that the appearance of the settlement changes only for the better.

There is natural gas and hot water in Tzeli, public transport operates, a secondary school and a feldsher-midwife station function. There are many pensioners in the village, and it is important for them that in the FAP they can receive not only medical assistance, but also purchase the necessary medicines.

When the 465th missile brigade was relocated to Osipovichi, the club was closed, and the Tseltsians were not happy with this change. A lot of appeals were sent to local authorities, to the deputy of the district council of deputies Vladimir Vereshchagin. And about 3 months ago, the cultural institution resumed work. In a short time, it recorded to its credit the first steps in creating amateur art and hobby groups, holding New Year holidays for the residents of the town. Local activists Tatyana Fedorchenko, Svetlana Smirnova, Anzhela Danilyuk showed themselves great here. The post office moved into the club building and occupies a comfortable and spacious room. The library has recently started working here, but it still had a lot of work to fill the book fund.

According to the agreements between the Kremlin and the organizers of the military mutiny, at least a part of the fighters of the "Wagner" PMC can settle on the territory of Belarus "at their own will". Putin himself told about it . This is primarily those who took a direct part in the rebellion. The total number of members of Yevgeny Prigozhin's PMC is estimated at approximately 25,000 people. He himself voiced the same number during the events of June 24. At the same time, it is not known how many militants participated in the rebellion. Numbers from thousands to tens of thousands are called. Information that they may move to the territory of Belarus appeared in the Russian and Ukrainian media on 25 June 2023. Some sources even reported on the construction of a large camp for their accommodation near Asipovichi in the Mogilev region.

Alexander Lukashenko commented on these rumors during the award ceremony of security forces on June 27. "We are not building any camps yet," the BelTA state agency quotes him as saying. - But if they want, as I understand it, they are looking at separate territories, we will place them. Put up the tents, please. But for now they are in Luhansk in their camps. And as Prigozhin told me yesterday, who called, someone from the Ministry of Defense will sign a contract with Shaigu... They want to go to their families. Please... We offered them one of the abandoned parts. Please - there is a fence, everything is there. Put up tents. We will help as much as we can."

According to the Ministry of Defense of Belarus, a total of about 200 military units operate on the territory of the country. On the territory of most of them, several hundred military personnel are constantly stationed. The largest military unit of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus is in Peche, Borisov: there, at the same time, approximately 4,500 military personnel are in the training center. Another 200-250 military units on the territory of Belarus were closed in the first half of the 1990s. Their property and territory, as a rule, remain the property of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus. The condition of these parts is unknown.

On June 27, several Belarusian mass media reported on the renovation of a former military unit in the village of Tsel, Asipovitsky district. It is about 90 kilometers from Minsk. Journalists refer to conversations with local residents who are worried about the possible appearance of the Wagnerites near the Asipovichs. Russian mass media, citing sources, spread the news that the fighters of the "Wagner" PMC may be stationed near the Asipovichs.

Rumors about repairs on the territory of the military unit in Tsel are indeed circulating in Osipovichi, a local resident confirmed to Svaboda. "There are rumors that they started to clean something there, one military unit, to destroy it," says the interlocutor. - It is most likely in the village of Tsel, but I don't know for sure. Perhaps this place was being prepared for the deployment of nuclear weapons. In general, he was put in order for something"

The former military unit in question used to belong to the missile forces. About 1,500 soldiers were stationed on its territory. "At one time, our town was called the cradle of the Belarusian missile forces," the official publication of the Lukashenka administration "Belarus Segodnya" quoted a former soldier of the unit in Tsel in 2020. - The military unit was here even before the war, in 1936. Under the Union, formidable missile complexes were armed here - a missile division from the Russian city of Klintsi was stationed, and then our Belarusian missile brigade was stationed here. I arrived here in the distant 1990s. Together with other soldiers and officers, their families - only 1.5 thousand people. They built a small town for us: houses, a dormitory, a club, and a store. There were many young people, the local ten-year school worked in two shifts. They lived together, celebrated the holidays together."

The military infrastructure in Tsel has been preserved to this day: several high-rise buildings surrounded by tall pine trees, a concrete fence around the perimeter. Three kilometers from the military unit in the village of Tsel, there is also a military town of Lapichi, which belongs to the 38th road and bridge brigade of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus, six kilometers away - a military unit of the engineering troops in Veraitsy, and twelve kilometers away - an artillery range in Repishcha.

With the help of the Planet.com satellite service, Svaboda investigated how the military facility in Tsel looked on June 27 and June 17. A possible place for the construction of a field camp on the territory of unit No. 61732 in the village of Tsel on June 27, 2023 It can be a gathering of tents of similar size (as in the Russian military camp on the territory of the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground) or large-sized equipment.

Ukrainian military expert and analyst Oleg Zhdanov, in a conversation with Svaboda, expressed the opinion that it is still too early to talk about the preparation of the site near Asipovichi specifically for the Wagnerites. "Very little time has passed to start building a camp specifically for the Wagnerites - it's unreal," Zhdanov suggests. According to the expert, what can be seen on the satellite images is the construction of a typical military camp. It is likely that the builders are now moving from the tent city to modular buildings. The modules can already be seen in the images.

Oleg Zhdanov draws attention to the fact that in Asipovichi (about 30 km from Tseli) there is a military training ground where Russian conscripts are being trained to be sent to Ukraine. What is being built in Tsel may be an extension of the site for the training of Russian mobilized soldiers.

"I do not rule out the possibility that Wagner mercenaries will be brought there tomorrow. But will Putin allow Lukashenka to train specialists for "Wagner" on his territory, having access to them? The fact is that the Wagnerites are engaged in the protection of special facilities throughout Africa — the CAR, Libya, Chad. There they guard gold mines, diamond mines, warehouses with gold, diamonds, as well as cash, the so-called "black cash". It is obvious that the KGB of Belarus will recruit Wagnerites on its territory. The fact that Lukashenka is trying to get into the "Wagner business", I do not even doubt. But will Putin allow him to do it?" - thinks the expert.

According to Oleg Zhdanov, "Wagner" is now cleaning its ranks. The Russian authorities are changing the leadership of the organization in order to remove Prigozhin as much as possible. "I doubt at all that Gerasimov (head of the General Staff of the Russian Federation - RS) will release even one militant from Russia. He now has every detail in the account, there is not enough personnel to reproduce the losses. As a result, some may sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense of Russia, some will be punished as organizers of the rebellion and will sit, as Patrushev said, "until the end of their days." It seems to me that Russia will not release even five thousand to Belarus," said a military expert in an interview with Svaboda.

Oleg Zhdanov believes that a center for the training of Wagner soldiers who will take part in military operations on the territory of third countries may appear in Belarus as soon as possible.

Marina Miron, a researcher specialising in the Russian military at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, said it was possible. "It [Wagner] is not like an army where everything is slow... if they managed to get halfway to Moscow within one day it is plausible to think they might already be starting to build camps in Belarus," she said.