Poland, Baltic States warn Belarus over Wagner Group
Poland and the Baltic States will immediately close their borders with Belarus if any incidents occur at the border, the countries' interior ministers said on Tuesday.
The ministers also called on Belarus to expel the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor, from its territory and to remove migrants from the border area.
"The liquidation of the Wagner Group administration does not change the real situation in Belarus, as there remain several thousand mercenaries who are accused of crimes and who were released from Russian prisons to participate in the war in Ukraine," the ministers said in a joint statement.
Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said that if there is a critical incident at the border with Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, the countries will respond immediately and close all border crossing points, both for people and goods.
Latvian Interior Minister Maris Kueinskis said that the message is for Belarus and its leader, Alexander Lukashenko. He warned that if weapons are used or there is a mass illegal crossing of the border, each of the four countries will respond within hours.
Poland closed all but one of its border crossings with Belarus this year after Minsk imprisoned a Polish-born journalist and expelled Polish diplomats. Lithuania recently closed two border crossing points, and Latvia, like Poland, has significantly increased its border security.
Poland has deployed more troops to its border with Belarus after accusing Minsk of violating its airspace, increasing tensions between the NATO member and a key Kremlin ally in an increasingly volatile security landscape in Europe.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the Wagner Group is trying to destabilise NATO's eastern flank. Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union and said that any aggression against Belarus, a neighbour and close ally of Russia, would be considered an attack on Russia.
The Wagner Group moved to Belarus after agreeing not to advance on Moscow. The group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is believed to have died in a plane crash near the Russian capital on August 23. For now, his mercenaries remain in Belarus.
