Satellite images show rapid construction work at an abandoned military base in Belarus. Is it Wagner’s new home?

Satellite imagery shows Belarus is rapidly building what appear to be temporary structures on an abandoned military base, revealing a possible location for Wagner fighters who were given the option to move to the country after the failed group mutiny against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

The construction was first visible on satellite images taken Monday by Planet Labs, a private company with a shoebox-sized network of satellites, two days after Wagner forces suddenly halted their advance on Moscow.

On Tuesday, the footage showed an approximately eight-acre sports field transformed inside the fenced military facility, replete with at least six rows of what appear to be temporary structures, such as large tents. The satellite images also show similar buildings in open areas next to the sports field.

The size, color and layout of the structures are similar to other military tent camps which are built in Russia and Belarus since early 2022. The images look blurry because they were taken by Planet Labs’ medium-resolution Dove satellites. The company’s higher-resolution satellites have so far been unable to get a clear view of the site since construction began.

The base is located about 130 kilometers from the Belarusian capital of Minsk and about 21 kilometers northwest of the city of Asipovichy, which is home to several military facilities, including a training area and an ammunition depot.

The base was formerly used by Belarus’ 465th Missile Brigade, which was established in 1988 and moved closer to Asipovichy in 2018. The unit is the only Belarusian brigade to have Russian Iskander missilesaccording to William Alberque, a nuclear weapons expert for the defense and security think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies. The Iskanders can deliver both conventional and nuclear warheads.

A Planet Labs satellite image from mid-June showed that the field at the former base was completely empty and there was little or no activity in other parts of the base.

There are no official announcements about where the Wagner mercenaries will be housed in Belarus or when they will travel there, and it is unclear if or when they will leave Russia or the battlefield in Ukraine. The Wagner troops were also given the opportunity to join the Russian army on 1 July.

But an independent Russian news outlet, Verstka, on Monday first reported Asipovichy as a location to house the Wagner fighters. And the basis also corresponded to the details that President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus in a rack on Tuesday describing where the Wagner fighters might be housed.

“We did offer them one of the abandoned bases. There is a fence, everything is there, go ahead, set up tents,” Mr. Lukashenko said. “We will help with what we can.”

At some point after the base was cleared, the Asipovichy regional government came included 31 buildings at the base in a real estate offering, including barracks, canteens and workshops.

According to the listing, the buildings sit on 37 acres of land in total. The posting said they were given away for business development; the list seems to still be active.