by Enrico Oliari –
The Polish government has decided to move troops to the Belarusian border, after mercenaries from the private Russian company Wagner carried out exercises with the Belarusian military at a military site not far from the demarcation line between the two countries, near Brest, explained Zbigniew Hoffmann of the Polish Security Committee.
Hoffman explained that “The committee has taken into consideration the possible threats including that of the deployment of units of the Wagner group”, for which “the government has opted for the deployment of troops from west to east”. Information from the Defense Ministry reports that two Polish military brigades are already exercising near the border with Belarus.
In reality it is very unlikely that Belarusians and Wagner’s mercenaries will attack a NATO country, with a consequent response from the Atlantic Alliance with unpredictable results, but in the war of communication, anything goes to keep the tension high. The fact is that the Polish initiative aroused the ire of Vladimir Putin, who intervened by threatening that “an attack on Belarus will mean aggression on Russia”, “we will respond with any means available”.
The Russian president stated that “despite Western aid, the Ukrainian counter-offensive did not produce the desired effects”, and defined the initiative “under the NATO umbrella of the creation of a so-called Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian formation” “a very dangerous game”. He then argued that “if not mercenaries, but well-equipped Polish and Lithuanian soldiers extracted in Ukraine, they would remain there forever.”
Meanwhile, the head of Wagner, Evgenij Prigozhin, appeared in a video welcoming his men to Belarus, a sign that beyond the speculations of the international press and Western chancelleries, Putin’s “chef” is alive, well and in his place.
