Warsaw’s increasingly hostile stance requires more attention to ensure the security of Russia and Belarus, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after Poland decided on Tuesday to deploy its military troops on the eastern border.
The presence of Wagner Group mercenaries in Belarus has prompted the Polish Defense Ministry to move some military troops to reinforce the country’s eastern border, Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced.
“Poland’s hostility towards Belarus and the Russian Federation certainly requires special attention,” Peskov told reporters, the TASS news agency quoted as saying. This Polish move raises “concerns” in Moscow, he added.
Mercenaries from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group have started training Belarusian special forces at a military compound a few kilometers from Poland, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.
According to a video released on Wednesday, Prigozhin informed his troops that they would no longer take part in the war in Ukraine. Instead, he ordered them to train the Belarusian army and gather their forces for a “new voyage to Africa.”
Perhaps Wagner “will eventually return to Ukraine, when we are sure that we will not be forced to shame ourselves,” Prigozhin said, according to Portal. Prigozhin also commended his militants for their “honorable fight” in what Russia has dubbed the special military operation in Ukraine.
Wagner did a lot for Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine, said Prigozhin, who was last seen leaving the Russian city of Rostov on June 24. Nonetheless, he described what is now happening on the Ukrainian front as “a disgrace that we must not accept”.
Meanwhile, Peskov confirmed that Moscow and Minsk are working on a security concept for their union states, as announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April.
He said this would reflect rising tensions at the countries’ borders, as well as the sanctions and information warfare against both countries.
According to Peskow, the previous parameters of the security concept are no longer relevant due to the changed external situation and the emergence of new threats. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the idea would strengthen mutual security guarantees between the two countries.
According to Minsk, the joint military exercises by Wagner and the Belarusian army near the border with Belarus should last a week.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Poland is prepared for various scenarios.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
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