British intelligence said Friday that Wagner fighters, seen here in Russia, were "likely" training soldiers in Belarus amid tensions with Poland. File Photo by Arkady Budnitsky/ UPI |
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Aug. 11 (UPI) -- British intelligence issued a warning Friday on the "realistic possibility" that mercenaries with Russia's Wagner Group are training Belarusian troops near Poland's border, where 10,000 soldiers were sent a day earlier as Warsaw braced for a potential attack.
The British Defense Intelligence Ministry emphasized "a small number of Wagner Group advisors acting in a training role" in Belarus amid escalating tensions over Polish airspace and illegal border crossings by Wagner Group fighters, who were flowing into Poland through the Suwalki Gap, near the Baltic Sea and the strategic enclave of Kaliningrad in westernmost Russia.
Observable military drills appeared to be non-threatening so far and were "highly likely part of the Belarusian military's routine training cycle," the ministry said in its latest update.
However, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki expressed worry Thursday over Wagner troops advancing toward the border city of Grodno, describing the situation as increasingly dangerous and warning that the mercenaries could infiltrate Poland by posing as migrants.
Earlier this week, Belarus announced that its 6th Separate Guards Mechanized Brigade would conduct training in the Grodno region of northwest Belarus, near Poland and Lithuania, where the unit is based.
However, British authorities said there was no indication the unit was preparing to launch a strike, and suggested Moscow might be attempting to create fresh frustrations for NATO as the Ukraine war dragged on.
The Wagner Group, a private military battery fighting for Russia in Ukraine, arrived in Belarus in mid-July after the mercenaries staged a brief uprising in which they commandeered a military outpost in southern Russia before marching toward Moscow.
The fighters quickly withdrew in a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who offered safe haven to Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after he claimed the revolt was only intended as a protest over the Kremlin's handling of the war.
On Thursday, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Warsaw's massive troop mobilization at the border with Belarus was intended to "scare the aggressor so that he does not dare attack us."
Lukashenko has reaffirmed ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin during several sit-downs amid the war, with the leaders agreeing to expand regional ties and economic cooperation.
Their meeting at the Kremlin in April was held the same week that Finland officially joined NATO, expanding the international military alliance to 31 countries and delivering a stinging blow to Moscow by doubling NATO's shared border with Russia.
The month before, Putin announced a plan for Russia to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which raised eyebrows throughout the international community.
Moscow justified the move, saying it had grown more concerned about its national security, especially along its western border.
Elsewhere Friday, British Commandos wrapped up six months of training with nearly 1,000 Ukrainian marines, who returned home Friday after learning how to conduct amphibious operations and beach raids using small inflatable boats.
