Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko today described requests from Poland and the Baltic states to expel the Wagner mercenaries from Belarus as “unreasonable and stupid demands”, following the death of the group’s leader.
“The leaders of Poland and the Baltic States are causing hysteria over the presence” of the Wagner group in Belarus, Lukashenko told the Belarusian Security Council in Minsk, the French agency AFP said.
The founder and leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash on August 23, according to Russian authorities, two months after rebelling against Moscow’s military leadership.
The brief uprising ended with a supposed deal brokered by Lukashenko that saw thousands of Wagner group troops transferred to Belarus after fighting in Ukraine.
Belarus, neighboring Russia and Ukraine, is an ally of Moscow in the war against Kiev that began on February 24, 2022.
Belarus also shares borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, three member countries of NATO and the European Union (EU).
Poland and the Baltic states demanded on Monday that Lukashenko expel the Wagner group from Belarus, deeming it a threat to their own security.
Lukashenko accused Poland and the Baltic states of making demands at a time when they were “increasing military budgets and concentrating large military formations” on the border with Belarus.
“There should not be any foreign soldier in Poland, Lithuania or the other Baltic states,” he stressed, referring to the forces deployed within NATO.
Lukashenko said neighboring countries will have the right to protest the presence of foreign troops in Belarus only after the withdrawal of NATO troops.
“Otherwise these are unreasonable and stupid demands. They are not even requests or proposals, but demands,” he said, quoted by the Belarusian news agency Belta.
Lukashenko also said that Belarus was ready to “restore relations with its neighbours”, but Minsk’s proposals were “received with accusations and threats”.
Following the presence of the Wagner group mercenaries, Poland and Lithuania erected fences along the borders with Belarus and Warsaw announced the deployment of up to 10,000 troops to strengthen border security.
On August 18, Lithuania closed two of its six border crossings with Belarus in response to the presence of Wagner group troops.
Russia, in turn, transfers tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
Source: DN
