Wagner troops 'will pose as migrants to enter EU', Polish PM warns
29 July 2023, 16:32 | Updated: 29 July 2023, 16:57
Soldiers in the Wagner private army could pose as migrants to enter the EU, Poland's prime minister has warned.
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Mateusz Morawiecki said the mercenaries may leave Belarus for Poland as a tool of "hybrid warfare" under cover of asylum seekers.
Around 100 Wagner troops have already arrived in Belarusian border town Grodno, Morawiecki claimed.
Thousands of soldiers in the private army are thought to have moved to Belarus after the group's failed coup on the Kremlin last month.
They were reportedly offered to join the Russian army or move to the sympathetic neighbouring country, which has played a key role in Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
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Morawiecki told a news conference during a visit to an arms factory this weekend that Poland may be under threat.
He said: "Now the situation is becoming even more dangerous.
"This is certainly a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory."
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko recently joked with Putin that Wagner soldiers in Belarus were "asking to go west".
He told the Russian leader: "They are asking to go west... to go on a trip to Warsaw.
"But of course, I am keeping them in central Belarus, like we agreed."
Critics suggest Morawiecki may be overplaying security fears on Poland's borders in the run-up to a general election later this year.
Opposition leader and former PM Donald Tusk claimed last month that the government has a secret "open-door policy" towards migrants.
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