Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the 14th-century monastery with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Monday, Sky News reports.

Putin and Lukashenko in the monasteryPhoto: Oleksandr Demyanchuk / AP / Profimedia

They visited the Valaam monastery, which is located on a fairly small island in the middle of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe.

Footage released by Russian television shows Putin bowing to icons and making the cross, followed by the leader of Belarus.

Putin visited this monastery several times, many voices in the Russian space claimed that the Kremlin leader would have a priest there.

It comes as the monitoring group believes militants from Wagner’s group have begun infiltrating Belarus under an agreement reached after the group’s coup attempt.

Between 3,450 and 3,650 soldiers have arrived at a camp near Osypovychy, a town 230 km north of the border with Ukraine, according to Belarusian Hayun, an activist group that tracks troop movements within the country.