Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, on Saturday (July 29) said that a group of a hundred soldiers from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border. This comes weeks after Poland’s defence minister said that they are moving more than 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid concerns over the presence of Wagner fighters in the neighbouring country.
Morawiecki warned that the Wagner fighters – who are living in exile in Belarus after their chief Yevgeny Prigozhin aborted mutiny in Russia – may engage in what Poland describes as “hybrid warfare,” where the Russian group’s fighters in Belarus could facilitate illegal migration from Belarus, said the Polish PM.
The fighters could pose as migrants from the city of Grodno, close to the Polish and Lithuanian borders, and enter the European Union, said Morawiecki. Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member and now a member of the United States-led NATO military alliance has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
However, Warsaw has also expressed concerns about the possible spillover of the Ukraine war onto its territory.
“The situation is getting increasingly dangerous…Most likely they (the Wagner personnel) will be disguised as the Belarusian border guard and help illegal migrants get to the Polish territory (and) destabilise Poland,” said Morawiecki, during a press conference in western Poland.
“This is certainly a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory,” he added. Notably, the Polish PM did not give a source of information that Wagner fighters were moving closer to Grodno.
However, given the location of the city, it may be potentially significant as it is near the Suwalki Gap, a strategic strip of 95 kilometres of land along the Polish-Lithuanian border, which divides Belarus, Russia’s ally, from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
According to Morawiecki, there have been 16,000 attempts to cross the border between Belarus and Poland, so far this year.
The statement by the Polish PM also comes after Warsaw’s interior minister, on Thursday, said Poland, Lithuania and Latvia could jointly decide to shut their borders with Belarus if there are any incidents involving the Wagner group near their borders.
Poland ramps up border security
Earlier this month, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said “Over 1,000 soldiers and almost 200 units of equipment from the 12th and 17th Mechanized Brigades are starting to move to the east of the country.” This was amid concerns over the presence of Wagner fighters in neighbouring Belarus.
He added, “This is a demonstration of our readiness to respond to attempts at destabilisation near the border of our country.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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