The arrival of Evgueni Prigojine in Belarus, confirmed on Tuesday June 27 by President Alexander Lukashenko, is not likely to reassure the neighboring Baltic countries. On a visit to Paris with their Estonian counterpart, the foreign ministers of Latvia and Lithuania, Edgars Rinkevics and Gabrielus Landsbergis, shared in talks with the World their concern about the danger to security in their region represented by the installation of the boss of the Wagner Group and his men in their neighbour’s home.
The three Baltic ministers were in Paris for talks with their French colleague, Catherine Colonna, two weeks before the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Vilnius – the Lithuanian capital –, which must specify the Ukraine’s membership prospects.
President Vladimir Putin offered opportunity for Wagner Group men to travel to Belarus, and Mr Lukashenko said they were welcome “for some time”. These troops, he said, have military experience and expertise ” valuable ” for Belarus.
For Edgars Rinkevics, if confirmed, the arrival of Wagner’s troops in this country “would pose a new challenge for the security not only of Ukraine but also of the Baltic countries and Poland”. It will then belong “It is up to NATO and the European Union to assess the new situation thus created for regional security. A new type of sanctions will have to be considered against Belarus, similar to the one hitting Russia”. The minister believes that the Europeans were right, initially, to treat the mutiny of Wagner “as an internal matter in Russia and to be careful. But now it’s different, it’s a problem that affects the security of the Baltic countries”.
Strengthening the NATO posture
Gabrielus Landsbergis is also of the opinion that the reception of Yevgeny Prigozhin by Mr Lukashenko “changes the security situation”. “When we see the speed at which Wagner was able to move to go up in the direction of Moscowhe said, one can imagine what can happen in Belarus, towards the Lithuanian and Polish borders. If Prigojine keeps a link with Wagner, it means that he is able to preserve a political space and that he keeps a degree of autonomy. »
For the Lithuanian minister, “Germany’s announcement to send a brigade to Lithuania of 4,000 men is timely, even if the terms of this deployment are not yet known”. His Latvian colleague points out that the reinforcement of the deployment of NATO troops in the three Baltic republics “is only in its infancy”. According to what will reveal “the intelligence collected on the movements, equipment and intentions of the mercenaries”he said, “additional deployments may need to be planned.”
You have 51.01% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.