Putin warns Poland of 'territorial ambition' in Belarus amid Wagner-Belarusian military exercises

Facebook/ Vlodymir Zelensky and Ramil Sitdikov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin informed Poland that any aggression towards allied Belarus is an attack on Russia itself and would be met "with all the means at our disposal."

In a televised address, Putin accused NATO member Poland of 'territorial ambitions' in the former Soviet Union amid concerns about joint military exercises between Wagner operatives and Belarusian special forces.

He referenced media reports of supposed plans for a Polish-Lithuanian military unit to engage in conflict across western Ukraine — which historically belonged to Poland, he claimed. 

"It is well known that they also dream of the Belarusian lands," he said.

In response, Warsaw's Security Committee moved military units to eastern Poland. They denied accusations of any territorial ambition in Belarus.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said NATO would support Poland in defending its eastern flank should conflict emerge.

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said they would summon their Russian ambassador to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, given the military training just a few miles from the Polish border. 

In response, the Kremlin said Putin met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Russia on Sunday but did not clarify what they discussed.

Last December, Russia and Belarus formalized the permanent presence of the Russian military in Belarus. In the spirit of that agreement, Lukashenko established combat centres for joint training for military personnel of both countries.

This is widely considered a continued escalation of tensions between the proverbial border between Russian and NATO spheres of influence. In recent weeks, the former stationed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus for the first time. 

Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member turned NATO member in 1999, moved over 1,000 troops to the east of the country earlier this month amid rising concern that Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.

Polish citizens near the border reported hearing the discharge of firearms and helicopters after Russia's Wagner Group arrived.

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Agata Moroz, 56, expressed considerable anxiety about what further escalation would mean for her family. "I'm afraid. I have a son in the army. He's a military man. I'm worried about him; I have grandchildren. I have a disabled husband. I'm most worried about them."

On Wednesday, pictures of masked Wagner instructors emerged online, with their faces covered and surrounded by Belarusian soldiers with armoured vehicles and military drones.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin welcomed an unknown number of fighters to train the 38th airborne assault brigade outside Brest, Belarus. 

He clarified they would not fight in Ukraine while they trained in Belarus following an attempted military coup by the Russian military establishment last month.

"We can hear helicopters flying there. When they do, all the windows are shaking [some 500 metres from the Belarusian border]," said Adam Ligor, a 45-year-old farmer and Moroz's neighbour.

"Everyone says that something will happen, that something will definitely happen," added Moroz.

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Anton Motolko, founder of the Belarusian Hajun project, an opposition group which monitors military activity in the country, told Reuters they observed no military columns in Brest. 

"[That] means that there are probably…a few dozen [Wagner fighters]. They probably brought them on a helicopter," he said.

In an apparent tongue-in-cheek gesture, Putin told the Poles that western Poland was a gift to them from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and should they make any military advances, he would take no issue with reminding them of that.

Morawiecki replied: "Stalin was a war criminal, guilty of the death of hundreds of thousands of Poles. Historical truth is not debatable."

The Polish defence ministry told Reuters it continues monitoring the border situation and is prepared to act accordingly.