Poland says it arrested 2 Russians distributing Wagner propaganda

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Authorities in Poland said on Monday they arrested two Russians distributing propaganda material about the Wagner mercenary group in the capital of Warsaw and Krakow as tensions between the two continue to build.

Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said that Poland's Internal Security Agency, working with the police, made the arrests after positively identifying the suspects.

"The ABW, in cooperation with the police, identified and detained two Russians who were distributing propaganda materials of the Wagner Group in Krakow and Warsaw," Kaminski said on social media. "Both heard allegations, regarding i.a. espionage, and they were arrested."

Posters had appeared in Krakow featuring Wagner's skull logo with a QR code that guided users to the paramilitary group's recruitment page.

The posters said, "We are here. Join us." Local Krakow councilor Lukasz Wantuch called the posters a "provocation."

The arrests come after Poland announced on Saturday that it was placing a permanent military task force of 4,000 soldiers near its border with Russian ally Belarus for the purposes of "training and defense."

Wagner fighters are in Belarus at the invitation of the country's president Alexander Lukashenko after Wagner staged a short-lived coup against the Russian military.

Last Friday, British intelligence issued a warning that Wagner was now 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. It also cited illegal border crossings by Wagner Group fighters into Poland through the Suwalki Gap, near the Baltic Sea and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.