In an interview with the Financial Times, the head of Poland's National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, said Wagner fighters relocated to neighbouring Belarus could use migrants from Africa and other countries, where the paramilitary group operates, to destabilise the region.
Siewiera was referring to clashes on the Belarusian border in 2021 when migrants tried to push their way into Poland.
Warsaw at the time accused the authorities in Minsk of waging a hybrid war by encouraging the migrants to push their way through the border.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said that Ukrainian state services were meticulously scrutinising intelligence pertaining to the military deployment of Wagner Group units in neighbouring Belarus. He added he had taken action to enhance security at the country's border with Belarus.
Meanwhile, Belarusian strongman president Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin's staunchest ally in its war in Ukraine, said on Friday he was certain Russian tactical nuclear weapons deployed in his country would never be used.
"As we move along, we become more and more convinced that they (the weapons) must be stationed here, in Belarus, in a reliable place,” Lukashenko said in an address marking his ex-Soviet state's national day.
However, last month he at one point suggested he would not hesitate to use some arms that were in Belarus if necessary, while adding that consultations with Russia would be needed.
Lukashenko, like Russia, has repeatedly accused Western countries of trying to destroy his state and says the nuclear deployment is necessary to deter potential aggressors, the Reuters news agency reported.
(mo/gs)
Source: ft.com, Reuters