Warsaw accused Wagner fighters of trying to penetrate Poland

The fighters of PMC “Wagner”, stationed in Belarus, made an attempt to penetrate the territory of Poland, declared Deputy head of the Polish Foreign Ministry Pavel Yablonsky in a commentary to CNN.

“We expect more attacks on our border, perhaps more attempts to violate our airspace … They will try to demonstrate that they can do whatever they want,” he said.

Jablonsky added that Poland is sending more troops to the border and is considering any steps that will be necessary to protect the territory, including the complete closure of the border.

“We would like to avoid this because it is to some extent a last resort. But if attacks continue, if attempts continue to destabilize our country, we may have no other choice,” the official concluded.

On the evening of August 1 at the Ministry of National Defense of Poland declaredthat two Belarusian helicopters violated the country’s airspace during exercises near the village of Belovezha. After the incident, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak convened a meeting of the National Security Committee and ordered an increase in the number of soldiers on the border and the allocation of additional forces, including combat helicopters.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that the accusations of violating the border of Poland by the Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Forces are far-fetched and were made by the Polish military-political leadership to justify the build-up of forces and means near the Belarusian border.

In early August, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko ruled out a scenario in which Wagner PMC fighters would attack Poland. “Suddenly, I hear recently, Poland went berserk that supposedly some detachment was coming here, as many as 100 people. No 100-strong Wagner PMC detachments moved here,” Lukashenka said.

Agreements that PMC fighters and Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin would work in Belarus were reached on the evening of June 24 after Wagner PMC attempted an armed rebellion in Russia.