The presence of Wagner group troops in Belarus could pose a potential “threat” to countries in the region, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on a visit to Ukraine on Wednesday.
“It is difficult for us to exclude today that the presence of the Wagner group in Belarus could pose a potential threat to Poland, which borders Belarus, and a threat to Lithuania”he told reporters in Kiev.
After an uprising by the mercenary group, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Wagner group to lose its heavy weapons and its fighters to join the regular forces or accept exile in Belarus.
“The question arises: what is the purpose of this move? What are the real intentions of the armed forces of the Wagner Group, that is, the Russian army, precisely in Belarus?”asked the Polish president.
“Is it a form of potential threat precisely against our countries, against NATO countries, against Poland?”Duda added, along with his Lithuanian and Ukrainian counterparts.
NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday it was too early to draw conclusions about Prigozhin’s move to Belarus and likely some of his troops, but assured the alliance was prepared to defend its members.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said NATO needed to send a “very direct” message in defense of the alliance. “If the alliance is powerful…then NATO must say unanimously to Polish and Lithuanian societies that if a Wagner fighter’s foot is on the independent territory of Lithuania or Poland, all Wagner fighters will be destroyed”Zelensky said. “And the top of Vilnius is a great platform to make such a direct message”Zelensky added, referring to the NATO meeting to be held in Lithuania on July 11-12.
Source: DN
