‘Let’s go on an excursion to Warsaw and Rzeszow’: Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko hints the Wagner mercenary group is ‘itching’ to march on Poland in cosy chat with Vladimir Putin
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has said that the Wagner mercenary group is ‘itching’ to march on Poland.
During a meeting with Vladimir Putin on Sunday, Lukashenko is reported to have said he was ‘stressed’ because he was having to restrain them.
A video posted on Twitter by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, shows Lukashenko saying: ‘They are asking to go to the West: ‘Allow us,’ Lukashenko said.
‘I said, “Why do you want to go west?” So they say, “We control what happens: let’s go on an excursion to Warsaw and Rzeszow,” referring to the Polish capital and a key military hub for the country.
Based less than 10km from the Polish border, the Wagner group was exiled to Belarus after an apparent botched coup to oust Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko added: ‘I am keeping them in central Belarus, like we agreed. We are controlling what is happening. [But] they are in a bad mood.’
He also presented Putin with a map showing what he said were Polish plans to attack Belarus.
Poland recently moved 1,000 troops towards Belarus to bolster security as footage appears to show Wagner forces training with Belarusian troops on the Polish border.
footage appears to show Wagner forces training with Belarusian troops on the Polish border.
Belarus is bordered to the northwest by Lithuania and to the west by Poland.
It is separated from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad by the Suwałki Gap, the border between Lithuania and Poland.
The gap is NATO’s eastern flank, considered a point of vulnerability as, if overwhelmed, it could cut off the Baltic States from their western allies.
Russia accuses Poland of making aggressive moves east.
On Friday, Putin said: ‘Poland’s leaders likely seek to set up a coalition under the NATO umbrella and directly join the conflict in Ukraine, and then ‘tear off’ a wider piece for themselves, restore their, as they believe, historical territory – today’s western Ukraine.’
Poland formerly held sway over much of central and eastern Europe as part of a wider commonwealth with Lithuania and including parts of modern day Ukraine.
It lost much of its territory during a period of crisis in the 18th century and was partitioned by Russia in 1772, 1792 and 1795 – souring relations irreparably.
While many Poles may regret the new borders imposed by Russia after WWII, there is no serious case for Poland trying to ‘retake’ former territories, like Lviv.
The Polish government has pledged to set up a sapper battalion nearby to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank and secure the Suwałki Gap.