(Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the demands of Poland and the Baltic states to withdraw Russia’s Wagner mercenary group from Belarus as “groundless and stupid,” according to a report by Belarusian state news agency BELTA on Thursday.
Lukashenko argued that the opposition to Wagner’s presence in Belarus is unfounded as long as foreign troops remain stationed in Poland and the Baltics, all of which are NATO members, as BELTA reported.
Wagner, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin who recently died in a plane crash in Russia, moved some of its fighters to Belarus under an agreement brokered by Lukashenko in order to quell a brief rebellion by the mercenary army against the Russian defense establishment in June.
Poland and its neighboring countries perceive Wagner’s presence in Belarus as a security threat, prompting Warsaw to deploy some of its own troops eastwards towards the Belarusian border.
Lukashenko dismissed Poland and the Baltic states’ complaints about Wagner’s presence in Belarus, arguing that as long as they have any foreign soldiers on their own soil, their demands are baseless and foolish, as BELTA reported.
“In the meantime, these are groundless and stupid demands,” Lukashenko stated.
In late July, Belarus announced that Wagner members had commenced training its special forces at a military range near the Polish border.
Lukashenko has claimed that his army will benefit from being trained by Wagner, which fought for Russia in some of the most intense battles of the Ukraine war and successfully captured the city of Bakhmut in May following months of fighting.
(Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Credit: The Star : News Feed
