Aggression against Belarus is attack on Russia: Putin tells Poland

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin charged NATO member Poland with having territorial aspirations in the former Soviet Union, and he warned that any strike against Belarus, a key ally of Russia, would be viewed as an attack on his country.

Putin stated in televised statements to his Security Council that Moscow will respond to any action against Belarus, which shares a loose “Union State” with Russia, “with all the means at our disposal.”

After Russian Wagner mercenaries landed in Belarus on Wednesday, Warsaw’s Security Committee decided to dispatch military forces to eastern Poland, its secretary was cited as saying on Friday by the state-run news agency PAP.

There are no territorial aspirations by Poland in Belarus.

In addition, Putin said that Russia would remind Poles that the western portion of Poland was a gift from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to the nation.

In apparent reference to that, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki tweeted on Friday evening that “Stalin was a war criminal, guilty of the death of hundreds of thousands of Poles. Historical truth is not debatable.”

“The ambassador of the Russian Federation will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, he said.

On Thursday, Belarus said Wagner mercenaries had started to train Belarusian special forces at a military range just a few miles from the Polish border.

For the first time, Russia has started stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in recent weeks. Putin will visit Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, with whom he frequently speaks, on Sunday in Russia, according to the Kremlin.

Boris Pistorius, the German minister of defence, stated on Friday that NATO and Germany were ready to assist Poland in safeguarding the eastern edge of the military alliance.

According to Putin, there have been press reports of plans for a Polish-Lithuanian force to conduct operations and eventually capture territory in western Ukraine, which had previously been part of Poland.

“It is well known that they also dream of the Belarusian lands,” he said, also without providing any evidence.

In a video released on Wednesday, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin welcomed his warriors to Belarus and instructed them to build up their strength for Wagner’s operations in Africa while training the Belarusian army. He also instructed them to stop participating in the battle in Ukraine for the time being.

According to Prigozhin, Wagner, who overran the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, is Russia’s most potent fighting force. But four weeks ago, he staged an armed rebellion as a result of his ongoing disputes with the Moscow defence establishment.

At the end of the uprising, it was agreed that Wagner fighters, many of whom had been enlisted from prison, might relocate to Belarus if they so desired.

(With agency inputs)