LONDON — Satellite images appear to show activity at a disused military base in Belarus, amid speculation about Wagner forces relocating to the country.

An image from June 27 obtained by BBC Verify, and first reported by Radio Free Europe, shows what could be tents or similar structures appearing at the base.

An earlier image taken on June 19 shows the fields within the military compound largely empty.

The Wagner group, which is made up of mercenaries, had been fighting for Russia in Ukraine until last weekend, when it staged a rebellion.

Its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, later called off an advance to Moscow after a deal was struck with the help of the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

After the failed mutiny, the Russian authorities said Wagner would be disarmed but its members would escape prosecution.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the military could either join the Russian army, go home or go to Belarus.

The base seen in the satellite images is about 13 miles (21km) from the town of Asipovichy — around 64 miles from the capital Minsk.

The area has been reported in Russian media as a place which could house Wagner fighters.

Lukashenko has offered to accommodate Wagner fighters in his country, where it is believed Prigozhin has gone into exile.

The Belarusian leader also mentioned an abandoned military base but did not specify the location, saying: "There is a fence, everything is available, erect your tents."

There has since been speculation about a site near Asipovichy which used to be home Belarus' 465th Missile Brigade before they relocated in 2018.

The image taken on June 27 is low resolution, so saying exactly what has been constructed there is difficult, but there's clearly been development since mid-June.

You can see several lines of rectangular structures which look to be consistent with tents seen at other military bases in the region.

It's unclear who was responsible for these structures being erected.

Ukrainian military expert Oleg Zhdanov told Radio Free Europe it was "unrealistic" for Wagner troops to have started building a camp with so little time passing since the rebellion.

But Marina Miron, a researcher specializing 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. — BBC