KYIV: Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed concerns on Wednesday about the presence of Wagner troops in Belarus, stating that it could potentially pose a threat to neighboring countries in the region.
During a visit to Ukraine, Duda highlighted the potential risks for Poland, which shares a border with Belarus, as well as Lithuania and Latvia.
Duda questioned the intentions behind the relocation of the Wagner Group forces to Belarus and emphasized the need to understand their real motives. He raised the possibility of the presence of Wagner troops posing a potential threat to NATO countries, including Poland. Duda made these remarks while standing alongside his Lithuanian and Ukrainian counterparts in Kyiv.
Wagner Group’s Move to Belarus
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg commented on Tuesday that it was premature to draw conclusions from the Wagner Group’s move to Belarus. However, he assured that the alliance was prepared to defend its member states.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a strong and direct message from NATO in defence of the alliance. He urged NATO to convey a unified stance that any incursion of Wagner fighters into the independent territories of Lithuania or Poland would be met with a decisive response, stating that the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12 would serve as an important platform to deliver such a message.