Russian citizens near Banja Luka trained Moldovans: Did Wagner member Andrei Beker have help from RS authorities?

Andrei Beker, born 05.03.1981 in Russia, Serghei Moskvin, born 17.07.1953 in Russia, Sergey Solovich born 27.02.1988 in Russia, Vladimir Vildiaev born 15.08.1977 in Russia, Aleksandr Volkhonskiy born 02.06.1976, Danila Russu, born 22.03.2002 and Georgiy Bubnov 08.12.1971 in Russia, were part of a group of Russian citizens who held a "theoretical" training for a group of about twenty Moldovan citizens near Banja Luka, Istraga.ba has learned.

They arrived on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina from June to October this year. However, they did not stay longer than seven consecutive days. They never arrived in the same group. They entered BiH from Serbia, after landing at Belgrade airport, and by plane via Istanbul to Sarajevo. With the help of the authorities of the Republika Srpska, according to information from Istraga, they were transported to the vicinity of Banja Luka, where they occasionally held classes for Moldovan citizens on how to break up demonstrations or how to organize demonstrations. The premises were provided to them by the RS authorities.

To camouflage themselves, the Russian citizens entered BiH with children, so the final list included a total of eleven Russian citizens.

According to information from security services, there was no military training, only a few lectures were held.

Let us recall, the Moldovan service previously announced that, ahead of the presidential elections and the referendum on the continuation of that country's rapprochement with the EU, pro-Russian Moldovan citizens underwent Wagner training in Serbia and BiH. However, there was no military training. The security services of BiH registered Russian citizens who occasionally came to BiH. The Moldovans announced that among the coordinators of these actions were Russian citizens Konstantin Goloskokov and Mihael Potepkin, who is under international sanctions. Potepkin had direct ties with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner, who, after the rebellion against Putin, "mysteriously" died in a plane crash. Potepkin was also connected to the Russian organization "FERMA", which in 2023 was involved in financing and organizing destabilizing protest actions in the Republic of Moldova. He is currently responsible for conducting malicious influence actions worldwide, within the entity "AKSON".

However, Potepkin did not enter Bosnia and Herzegovina during the disputed period. The most prominent name among the Russian citizens who entered Bosnia and Herzegovina from June to October was Andrei Beker, who entered Bosnia and Herzegovina with a Russian passport stating he was born on March 5, 1981.

Given that the photographs are still being analyzed, it cannot be confirmed with certainty that this is the same Andrei Beker who is in the database of the Ukrainian security services. For instance, Andrei Olegovich Beker, whom Ukrainians consider a member of the Wagner paramilitary formation, was born in 1971, while Andrei Beker who entered Bosnia and Herzegovina is ten years younger.

Here, however, it should be kept in mind that Wagner members work closely with the Russian intelligence service, so changes in the passport, when it comes to personal data, should not be a problem.