Poland is a member of NATO - would NATO attack the Wagner Group and Belarus if they attack? Putin may be egging them on to bring about a larger conflict. Why?
Belarus is struggling to restrain Wagner mercenaries from attacking Poland, Alexander Lukashenko has said.
The Belarusian leader made the claim during a meeting with Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, days after Warsaw accused Moscow of using Wagner and Minsk to destabilise Eastern Europe.
He said: “The Wagnerites are beginning to stretch us. I ask: ‘Why do you need to go to the West?’ [They reply:] ‘We want to go on an excursion to Warsaw, to Rzeszow’.”
Mr Lukashenko also presented Putin with what he said was a map of Poland’s plan to attack Belarus. This week, the Russian president has warned that an attack on Belarus constitutes an attack on Russia.
”As we can see that, the ground is being prepared,” Mr Lukashenko said.
Poland has rushed extra soldiers to its border and said that it was monitoring Wagner fighters since they moved into Belarus earlier this month. Analysts have warned that the Kremlin may be setting up a “false flag” incident to justify an attack on Poland.
Wagner fighters have been training Belarusian special forces on the border with Poland.
The two leaders met with residents of St Petersburg early on Sunday - Alexander Demianchuk/Sputnik/Kremlin/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock© Provided by The Telegraph
On Sunday, the Hajun Project, a Belarusian NGO, reported that the 10th column of Wagner fighters had entered the country. It said that there were 10 vehicles in the column, including trucks and minivans.
After their meeting, Putin and Mr Lukashenko toured a cathedral in St Petersburg and then posed for photographs with seemingly adoring bystanders.
This was a departure from Putin’s usual tactic of keeping his distance from ordinary Russians. Analysts have said after the Wagner rebellion in June, Putin needed to show any potentially rebellious Russian elite that he was still popular with ordinary people.
At the end of June, a few days after the Wagner mutiny, Putin travelled to Derbent, on the Caspian Sea shore in Dagestan, and posed with ordinary Russians.
For years, he has been highly nervous of catching Covid-19, making visitors quarantine for days. During his heavily stage-managed walkabout on Sunday, a pro-Kremlin journalist asked whether he still was concerned about the virus.
“People are more important than quarantine,” Putin replied.
Lukashenko ‘struggling to keep Wagner troops from attacking Poland’
MSN
www.msn.com
The Belarusian leader made the claim during a meeting with Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, days after Warsaw accused Moscow of using Wagner and Minsk to destabilise Eastern Europe.
He said: “The Wagnerites are beginning to stretch us. I ask: ‘Why do you need to go to the West?’ [They reply:] ‘We want to go on an excursion to Warsaw, to Rzeszow’.”
Mr Lukashenko also presented Putin with what he said was a map of Poland’s plan to attack Belarus. This week, the Russian president has warned that an attack on Belarus constitutes an attack on Russia.
”As we can see that, the ground is being prepared,” Mr Lukashenko said.
Poland has rushed extra soldiers to its border and said that it was monitoring Wagner fighters since they moved into Belarus earlier this month. Analysts have warned that the Kremlin may be setting up a “false flag” incident to justify an attack on Poland.
Wagner fighters have been training Belarusian special forces on the border with Poland.
The two leaders met with residents of St Petersburg early on Sunday - Alexander Demianchuk/Sputnik/Kremlin/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock© Provided by The Telegraph
On Sunday, the Hajun Project, a Belarusian NGO, reported that the 10th column of Wagner fighters had entered the country. It said that there were 10 vehicles in the column, including trucks and minivans.
After their meeting, Putin and Mr Lukashenko toured a cathedral in St Petersburg and then posed for photographs with seemingly adoring bystanders.
This was a departure from Putin’s usual tactic of keeping his distance from ordinary Russians. Analysts have said after the Wagner rebellion in June, Putin needed to show any potentially rebellious Russian elite that he was still popular with ordinary people.
At the end of June, a few days after the Wagner mutiny, Putin travelled to Derbent, on the Caspian Sea shore in Dagestan, and posed with ordinary Russians.
For years, he has been highly nervous of catching Covid-19, making visitors quarantine for days. During his heavily stage-managed walkabout on Sunday, a pro-Kremlin journalist asked whether he still was concerned about the virus.
“People are more important than quarantine,” Putin replied.
