Poland will send 500 police officers to strengthen security efforts on its border with Belarus as the fallout from Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion continues to have ripple effects in the region.
The relocation of Wagner forces to Belarus following the failed revolt has led to worries that their presence will cause greater instability in Eastern Europe.
Police from riot patrol and counterterrorism units will be deployed to help control “the tense situation” on the border, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński tweeted on Sunday. They will join 5,000 security guards and 2,000 soldiers already stationed at the border, he said.
The move comes after 187 people tried to cross from Belarus into Poland illegally on Saturday, according to the Polish Border Guard. Warsaw accuses Minsk of trying to create a migrant crisis by attempting to push people from Africa and the Middle East across the border into Poland. Belarus denies the accusation.
Last week, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party said Warsaw believed that there could be 8,000 Wagner troops already in Belarus. It said Poland would take temporary and permanent measures to strengthen the border, including boosting the presence of security forces and increasing fortifications.
Jarosław Kaczynski, the Law and Justice leader, said on Wednesday that Wagner’s presence in Belarus could mean “a new phase of hybrid warfare, a phase much more difficult than the one we have dealt with so far,” Reuters reported.