Global Courant
By Anthony Deutsch
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Eastern European NATO countries warned on Tuesday that a move of Wagner’s Russian mercenaries to Belarus would cause greater regional instability, but NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is ready to defend against any threat.
“If Wagner deploys his serial killers in Belarus, all neighboring countries will face an even greater risk of instability,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said after a meeting in The Hague with Stoltenberg and heads of government from six other NATO allies.
“This is really serious and very worrying, and we have to take very strong decisions. It requires a very, very tough response from NATO,” Polish President Andrzej Duda added.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended the mercenary mutiny in Russia on Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wagner’s fighters would be given the choice of moving there.
NATO’s Stoltenberg said it was too early to say what this might mean for NATO allies, highlighting the increased defense of the alliance’s eastern flank in recent years.
“We have sent a clear message to Moscow and Minsk that NATO is there to protect every ally, every inch of NATO territory,” Stoltenberg said.
“We have already increased our military presence in the eastern part of the alliance and we will make further decisions at the upcoming summit to further strengthen our collective defense with more readiness and more capabilities.”
Stoltenberg said the mutiny showed that Putin’s “illegal war” against Ukraine had deepened divisions in Russia.
“At the same time, we should not underestimate Russia. It is therefore all the more important that we continue to support Ukraine.”
Poland’s Duda said he hoped the threat from Wagner forces would be on the agenda at a summit of all 31 NATO members in Vilnius, Lithuania, from July 11 to 12.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Anthony Deutsch; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
