Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia demanded from the Belarusian authorities to immediately withdraw from the country all the fighters of the Wagner PMC stationed there. This was announced at a press conference by Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski. On Monday morning in Warsaw, a meeting was held between the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland and the Baltic countries, dedicated to the situation with Wagner.
Kaminsky said that the presence in Belarus of several thousand armed mercenaries poses a danger both to the citizens of the country and to the entire region. According to the minister, the states of the European Union do not rule out “incidents of a military nature” with the participation of “Wagnerites”. In this case, Kaminski said, Poland and the Baltic states are ready to completely close the borders with Belarus.
In addition, Kaminsky pointed out that recently, clusters of illegal migrants who are trying to enter the territory of the EU countries have increased on the borders from Belarus. The ministers also demand that the Lukashenka regime return them to their countries of origin and not exacerbate the migration crisis.
Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said that the countries agreed on a unified response in case of fixing critical incidents. Now Vilnius is considering the possibility of closing two more border crossings between Belarus and Lithuania: Lavorishkes and Raigardas. Since August 18, Lithuania has already closed two of the six checkpoints on the Belarusian border, Shumskas and Tveryachyus.
Mercenaries from PMC “Wagner” began to arrive in Belarus after an attempted rebellion in Russia at the end of June. The Belarusian authorities have said that they will train the Belarusian military. The Wagnerites arrive in Belarus without heavy armored vehicles. Their main camp is located in the Mogilev region. Poland and the Baltic States are taking steps to strengthen border security with Belarus. Poland is building additional defenses there and increasing its military presence. The country intends to increase the number of border guards to 10,000. The Latvian Border Service announced the transition to an enhanced regime. The agency announced a growing number of attempts to illegally cross the border and accused the Belarusian regime of trying to destabilize the situation.
