Russian Wagner Group Mercenaries Move Closer to Poland’s Border

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – More than 100 mercenaries who are members of the Group Wagner Russian origin in Belarus has moved closer to the border with Poland. This was announced by Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Saturday.

Morawiecki told a news conference that the mercenaries had been moving near the Suwalki Pass, a strategic stretch of Polish territory that lies between Belarus and Kaliningrad, a Russian region separate from the mainland.

“Now the situation has become even more dangerous,” Morawiecki told reporters. He added that “this is certainly a step towards further hybrid attacks on Polish territory.”

Morawiecki was speaking during a visit to an arms factory in Gliwice, in southern Poland, where the Leopard tanks used by the Ukrainian army are being repaired.

Poland is a member of the European Union and NATO, and is concerned about its security with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine on its eastern borders.

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Those fears have grown since Wagner Group mercenaries arrived in Belarus after the group’s brief mutiny earlier this summer.

Poland’s Interior Minister on Thursday said Poland, Lithuania and Latvia could jointly decide to close their borders with Russia’s close ally Belarus if there was a serious incident involving the Wagner group along their border with that country.

NATO member Poland decided on July 19 to move military units east, after Wagner mercenaries began training Belarusian special forces a few miles from its border.

The Polish-Belarusian border has been a tense place for several years. This is since large numbers of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa started arriving, trying to enter the European Union by crossing into Poland and Lithuania.

The Polish government accuses Russia and Belarus of using the migrants to destabilize Poland and other EU countries. He described migration as a hybrid form of warfare, and responded by building high walls along part of his border with Belarus.

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REUTERS | ARAB NEWS

2023-07-30 02:49:00
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