US 'not aware' of 'specific threat' from Wagner Group to NATO members

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US is "not aware" of any threat to NATO member states posed by Russia's Wagner private military group, the White House said Tuesday.

"We're not aware of any specific threat posed by Wagner to Poland or to any of our NATO allies, and we're watching it obviously closely," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a virtual briefing.

"But, of course, we're committed to Article 5 and, as the president said, to defending every inch of NATO territory, but again, no indication that Wagner poses such a threat to the alliance," he added.

The comments come a day after Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington's UN envoy, warned Moscow that "any attack by the Wagner Group will be seen as an attack by the Russian government.”

"We certainly worry that this group, at the behest of the Russian government – because they do not work independently of the Russian government – is a threat to all of us," she said.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday that roughly 100 mercenaries from the Wagner Group have moved towards the Belarusian city of Grodno, near the Polish border, describing the movements as "a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory."

The Wagner troops – who have been in Poland since a short-lived revolt last month against Russia – could disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards and help illegal immigrants get into Poland or else impersonate immigrants illegally crossing the border, the premier added.