Poland expects provocations from Wagner Group troops gathering

Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – ​​​​​​​Reports on Wagner Group troops planning to conduct military exercises with the Belarusian army near the Polish border with Belarus have left Poland on alert.

“We expect Russian provocations, which is why the Polish services are constantly working,” Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish Radio One on Thursday.

“We must be aware that, for example, bringing several thousand Wagner soldiers to Belarus is also a threat to our country,” he added.

According to estimates of the Belarusian military intelligence (HUR), about 700 mercenaries from the Wagner Group arrived in Belarus by Wednesday. On the same day, another 100 column vehicles of Wagner cars entered Belarus.

Blaszczak said the Committee on National Security and Defense Affairs had discussed the risks and decided to transfer military units from the west of Poland to the city of Biala Podlaska and the town of Kolno in the eastern region.

Belarusian Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Karpenkov reported on July 13 that the Wagner Group could be involved in the training of Belarusian special forces.

Some Wagner Group soldiers came to Belarus after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s revolt in late June. The satellite photos on June 30 show tents in the village of Cel near Osipowicze, suggesting that a Wagner camp may be built there.