Wagner could pose as migrants to enter EU, PM Morawiecki warns

Wagner fighters successful Belarus could airs arsenic migrants and participate the EU, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has warned.

Wagner could besides facilitate amerciable migration from Belarus, which Poland describes arsenic "hybrid warfare", helium says.

About 100 Wagner troops person moved adjacent the metropolis of Grodno, adjacent to the Polish and Lithuanian borders, the PM added.

Some Wagner troops person moved to Belarus nether a woody to extremity a little mutiny successful Russia successful June.

Warsaw says it sees Wagner's beingness successful Belarus arsenic a imaginable menace and is seeking to enactment up its eastbound flank.

Belarusian person Alexander Lukashenko has antecedently denied provoking a migrant situation successful Europe by luring would-be migrants to its borders with EU nations.

But Mr Morawiecki said connected Saturday that much than 100 members of the Wagner radical had moved to north-western Belarus adjacent the Suwalki spread - Poland's 60-mile (95km) borderline with chap EU authorities Lithuania, which separates Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

He claimed the mercenaries mightiness airs arsenic Belarusian borderline guards successful bid to assistance migrants transverse into the EU, oregon adjacent unreal to beryllium migrants themselves to participate the bloc.

"Now the concern is becoming adjacent much dangerous," helium told a quality league connected a sojourn to an arms mill successful Gliwice, confederate Poland.

"This is surely a measurement towards a further hybrid onslaught connected Polish territory," helium added.

Several 1000 Wagner fighters person moved to Belarus since the group's short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin successful June. They were offered a prime of joining the regular Russian service oregon heading to Belarus, a adjacent state of Russia.

On Thursday Poland's interior curate said Poland, Lithuania and Latvia could jointly determine to unopen their borders with Belarus if determination were incidents involving the Wagner radical on their frontiers.

Last play Mr Lukashenko insisted helium would support the Wagner mercenaries successful cardinal Belarus.

"They are asking to spell west... to spell connected a travel to Warsaw... " Mr Lukashenko joked successful a speech with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"But of course, I americium keeping them successful cardinal Belarus, similar we agreed."

Mr Morawiecki said determination had been 16,000 attempts to transverse the borderline betwixt Belarus and Poland truthful acold this year.

According to the EU borderline bureau Frontex, determination were 2,312 amerciable borderline crossings into the EU from Belarus betwixt January and June.

Poland and Lithuania person some erected fences on their borders with Belarus to effort to trim the fig of radical crossing illegally.

Minsk has faced accusations it has encouraged migrants from the Middle East to question to the state connected flights connected the mendacious committedness of casual entree to the EU.

The Polish Border Guard says Belarusian borderline guards assistance migrants transverse into the state illegally, acold from authoritative checkpoints.

Mr Morawiecki's comments travel up of this autumn's parliamentary elections, with the Polish authorities seeking to emphasise the actions it is taking to fortify borderline security.