23 January 2025, 20:55

Mercenary: No oversight of funding transferred to Belarusian militants

Screenshot of the video by the Belarus 1 TV channel

MINSK, 23 January (BelTA) – At the end of the summer of 2022, the morale of Belarusian mercenaries in Ukraine began to deteriorate, which resulted in numerous conflicts, the Belarus 1 TV channel learned from Vasily Veremeichik, a mercenary who participated in the hostilities in Ukraine as part of the Kalinovsky Regiment, recognized as a terrorist organization in Belarus, BelTA reports.

According to Vasily Veremeichik, the morale of Belarusian mercenaries fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to rapidly deteriorate at the end of the summer of 2022. The conflicts that ensued had to do with financing.

“It was impossible to check it. What was the root-cause of the problem? The funds were received and spent in a non-transparent way. Some kind of fund was created. There was no oversight, no reporting. Therefore, there were grounds to believe that money was stolen,” said Vasily Veremeichik.

According to the mercenary, the leadership of the Kalinovsky Regiment, despite receiving external financing, began to 'demand a tithe from the fighters', i.e. 10% of money paid to them. Vasily Veremeichik said that the payments depended on the number of days spent in combat. “It was about 30,000 hryvnias, which is a little less than $1,000,” he added.

Some conflicts among militants ended in fights, Vasily Veremeichik remarked. He was one of those who put questions to the mercenary leadership about financing, organizational work, the existence of a charter, 'which certain circles in Kiev did not like'. As a result, Vasily Veremeichik and a number of other mercenaries were banned from entering Ukraine for three years.