Wagner mercenaries stationed in Belarus redeploy to borders near Suwałki Gap
Photo: STEPHANIE LECOCK /PAP/EPA
The movement of the Wagner mercenaries to the Suwalki Gap, the corridor between Belarus and Kaliningrad, Russia, following the Lithuania-Poland border, can be considered a step towards a further hybrid attack on the territory of Poland, says Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki.
Morawiecki's office wrote on Twitter that the situation is becoming "even more dangerous" because more than a hundred fighters of Wagner PMC are heading to the Suwalki Isthmus, a 100-kilometer border between Poland and Lithuania.
Morawiecki said that his country has been dealing with "constant attacks on the Polish border" for two years. The prime minister noted that only this year, there were 16,000 attempts at illegal crossing.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland, Mariusz Kaminski, said the EU countries bordering Belarus will close their borders if Wagner PMC mercenaries commit provocations.
Earlier, the adviser to the head of the President's Office, Mykhailo Podoliak, warned that Russia could launch a hybrid aggression against NATO with the help of Wagner PMC mercenaries. The border between Poland and the Baltic states is under threat.
He stated that the border territories of Poland and the Baltic states could be the target of the Russians because the fighters of Wagner "cannot sit without work in tent cities in Belarus."
The National Resistance Center also warned about the preparation of provocations by the militants of Wagner. According to the center, to organize provocations in the Belarusian city of Grodno, near the Suwalki Isthmus, a hundred "Wagnerians" have arrived, who are preparing to destabilize the border between Poland and Lithuania.
As reported, new satellite images indicate an increase in the number of Wagnerites who settled in the central part of Belarus. In the camp in the settlement of Cel, more equipment and tents for the accommodation of the personnel became available.
Dislocation of the Wagner mercenaries, July 21
Previous images from Maxar Technologies, dated July 16, showed about ten trucks and five buses there.
Dislocation of the Wagner mercenaries, July 16
Earlier this week, Belarus announced the start of joint exercises with the Wagner mercenaries at the Brest training ground near the Polish border. According to the State Border Guard Service, Belarus has approximately 5,000 Russian Wagner mercenaries.
"The State Border Service of Ukraine continues to closely monitor the situation regarding the arrival and stay of Russian mercenaries in Belarus," said spokesman Colonel Andrii Demchenko. "I would like to note that the situation along the border remains fully controlled by the border units and other components of the Defense Forces of our state. All of them have been warned about further risks that may come from the territory of Belarus, which, unfortunately, is under the influence of Russia and supports it in the war waged against Ukraine."
He explained that when groups of Russian mercenaries began entering Belarus, their number was estimated in the hundreds. The spokesman said that the available information about the groups of representatives of private military companies has been taken into account, so their number is different and may reach about 5,000.
Demchenko emphasized that such a number does not directly threaten Ukraine, but the Defense Forces must be ready for any situation, including preventing provocations at the border.
"I would like to note that Ukraine is doing everything necessary to access the real risk and guarantee reliable security amid the presence of mercenaries in a neighboring country. We are reacting accordingly. Our border is being strengthened along its entire length and by the necessary means."
Meanwhile, Lukashenko said that the Wagnerites wanted to attack Poland, and he allegedly restrained them.
