Putin Ally Wants Gratitude for Not Unleashing Wagner Forces on Europe

Vladimir Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, suggested that European leaders be thankful that he had only joked about deploying Wagner Group troops against them.

Wagner mercenaries are currently stationed in Belarus after a brief attempted mutiny on Moscow instigated in June by the paramilitary group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The move generated unease among a number of nations in Eastern Europe, including Poland, which shares a border with Belarus to the northeast. In response, the Polish military deployed troops to the border in the event of an attack by Wagner forces.

Lukashenko said in an interview with the Russian news outlet Interfax on July 23 that Wagner troops in his country were becoming restless, and that he might encourage them to march on Poland.

"The Wagnerites started to bother us," the Belarusian leader said. "They say, 'We want to go West. Let us.' I ask them, Why West? 'Well, to go on an excursion to Warsaw, to Rzeszow.' I'm keeping them in the center of Belarus, as was agreed upon, I would not like to relocate them there, because they are in a bad mood."

The remarks did little to dampen concern amongst Polish leaders, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who days later voiced worries about a group of roughly 100 Wagner troops who appeared to be moving towards the Suwałki Gap, a key strategic area for Poland and other countries in the region.

On Tuesday, however, Lukashenko said during a visit to a farming community that the remarks had only been a joke and suggested that European leaders should be thanking him for not deploying Wagner forces against them.

"I joked about Wagnerites whispering among themselves, 'Let's take an excursion to Rzeszow,'" Lukashenko said. "Why? Because equipment and weapons had been coming from Rzeszow to where those Wagnerites had been fighting, by Artyomovsk. Thousands of their guys had been killed there, and they're not going to forgive this.

"Belarus and I should be thanked for inviting these fighters over. It's not just a thousand men. I don't even want to say. As of today, they control over 30,000 people."

He continued: "Those guys are charged for a fight, they are resentful. A lot of them have been maimed and killed, and do you think they'll forgive it? No, they won't. So let others pray that we keep them here and take care of them, more or less. Otherwise, they'd seep over there and deal such a blow to Rzeszow and Warsaw that they wouldn't ask for more. So, instead of complaining, they better thank me."