Poland Expects Another Wave of Migrants Due to Wagner Group Presence in Belarus
Deputy Minister of the Interior and Administration of Poland, Mateusz Wonsik (Maciej Wąsik), believes that the presence of the private military company "Wagner" in Belarus may push migrants towards the Polish border. This was reported by PAP.
The Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland noted that Wagner Group mercenaries, who have participated in wars in Syria and Mali, have strong connections and recruitment networks in these countries.
"These bloodthirsty mercenaries, often criminals, are capable of carrying out any task. They can infiltrate Lukashenko's circles and carry out his assignments. They can also encourage migrants to move towards the Polish border," he said.
Wonsik emphasized that although it is necessary to anticipate the most negative scenarios and expect an increase in migration pressure on the Polish-Belarusian border, the situation is far from the events that occurred in 2021.
The situation at the Polish-Belarusian border has remained tense since 2021 when there was a significant increase in the number of illegal border crossings from Belarus to Poland. Since the beginning of 2023, the Border Guard Service has recorded over 12,000 cases of illegal border crossings between Belarus and Poland.
"Without having such effective counting methods yet, we used to detect several hundred to a thousand violations, but now it's only a hundred, sometimes approaching two hundred," said the Deputy Head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration of Poland.
Polish Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak, does not exclude the possibility of provocations by Wagner Group mercenaries, who may move to Belarusian territory after the failed coup attempt in Russia.
It should be noted that after the unsuccessful coup attempt by Yevgeny Prigozhin, he himself and a significant number of Wagner PMC members moved to Belarus. In response to the coup attempt, Poland has strengthened its border defense with Belarus.
"We have strengthened our borders, the border with Belarus and Kaliningrad. We are aware of these threats and we respond to them, preempting potential attacks. After all, we are dealing with a hybrid attack on Poland. The Polish military has been serving at the border for two years, thus strengthening the security of our homeland," said Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki.
The failed coup attempt by Prigozhin took place on June 23-24, 2023. According to official information from Russia (which, however, is not very truthful), the head of the Wagner PMC persuaded the leader of Belarus, self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko, to suppress the uprising.