MESOP WATCH NEWS BY BELLINGCAT – Inside Wagnergate: Ukraine’s Brazen Sting Operation to Snare Russian Mercenaries
During the turmoil in Belarus last summer, 33 Russian mercenaries were arrested by local security services in a raid on a Minsk hotel. Embattled leader Alexander Lukashenka suggested that they had been sent by Moscow to cause mayhem during the upcoming election.
But over the past year, it’s emerged that the men had been ensnared by an incredibly ambitious sting operation concocted by Ukrainian intelligence. It included a co-opted Russian spook, the appropriated identity of a Russian private military contractor, fake oil wells in Venezuela and an emergency landing under false pretences.
If it hadn’t been for a mysterious last minute delay, these men would likely be in Ukrainian custody today, facing charges for alleged war crimes in the Donbas. What happened?
An accompanying article on the methodology behind the Wagnergate investigation can be found here.