The presence of Russia’s Wagner Group forces in Belarus poses no military threat to Poland unless the fighters are provided with mechanized equipment, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US think tank.
Wagner Group mercenaries.PAP/Stringer / Anadolu Agency/ABACAPRESS.COM
Polish officials said on Tuesday that two Belarusian helicopters entered Polish airspace and announced an increased troop presence at the Polish-Belarusian border in response, the Institute for the Study of War reported in its latest analysis of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
It said Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko „dismissed the Polish government for overreacting to news that the Wagner Group deployed a 100-person element closer to the Belarusian-Polish border” and claimed that Wagner forces were „in Grodno and Brest rather than near the international border.”
The ISW said it „continues to assess that Wagner forces in Belarus pose no military threat to Poland (or Ukraine, for that matter) until and unless they are re-equipped with mechanized equipment.”
Lukashenko „may have signaled his intent to use the Wagner Group to create a foundation for an unspecified Belarusian 'contract army,'” according to the US think tank.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
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Source: PAP, understandingwar.org