Wagner and Belarus hold military training exercises near Polish border

Soldiers from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who recently arrived in Belarus are holding training exercises this week with Belarusian special forces near the border with Poland. Warsaw says it is monitoring the situation but that there is no need for “panic”.

“The armed forces of Belarus continue joint training with the fighters of the Wagner PMC [Private Military Company],” said the Belarusian defence ministry.

“During the week, special operations forces units together with representatives of the company will work out combat training tasks at the Brest military range,” it added. Brest, a city in southwest Belarus, is located alongside the border with Poland.

After a short-lived rebellion by Wagner in Russia last month was brought to an end, it was reported that some of its forces and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, would relocate to Belarus.

Subsequently, there was confusion over Prigozhin’s whereabouts and a camp prepared for Wagner in Belarus remained empty.

However, this week satellite images appeared to show Wagner forces arriving at the camp and a video published yesterday appeared to show Prigozhin welcoming them to Belarus.

In later June, the Polish government announced that it was boosting security at the border with Belarus in response to the potential new threat from Wagner forces being based there.

It was particularly concerned that they could become involved in the crisis created at the border by the Belarusian authorities, who have encouraged and facilitated attempts by migrants – mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – to cross into the EU. Poland and Germany have called such actions part of “hybrid attacks”.

In response to the latest developments, Stanisław Żaryn, a Polish government security official, told broadcaster TVP that “this announcement by the Belarusian side that the Wagnerites will take part in military exercises and manoeuvres in the near future is not a surprise to us”.

“Our answer is to clearly strengthen our border with Belarus and calmly monitor what the Wagnerites will do in Belarus and how many of them will end up there,” he continued. So far estimates suggest that there are between “several hundred and a thousand” Wagner mercenaries in Belarus, said Żaryn.

“The participation of Wagnerites in certain hybrid operations or provocations against Poland is possible,” he added. “We do not underestimate the threats in this matter, but we also do not panic.”

“What we have seen from the very beginning is an attempt at a certain game, psychological pressure on Poland, to show that the Wagnerites will do something against our country,” he continued. “Of course it is possible and we are preparing for it, but for now we can see a lot of playing on emotions and propaganda.”

Main image credit: Andrey Rusov/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 4.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.