Lukashenko tension, Belarus team captain Wagner tells Putin

Tensions are rising between Belarus and the Wanger mercenary group, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a meeting in St. Petersburg, TASS news agency reported Sunday.

The reasons behind the sudden tensions, Lukashenko said, are “because they want to march on Warsaw.”

Lukashenko described Wagner as asking to go west to “tour Poland”.

“I am keeping them in the center, as agreed. Belarus does not want to take them there because their mood is bad,” he continued.

“The Wagner group has started to stress us: ‘We want to go to the West.’ Let us go.” I said, why do you want to go to the West?’

Alexander Lukashenko

The Belarusian leader reportedly showed Putin a map of the alleged movement of Polish troops near the Belarusian cities of Brest and Grodno along the border. Furthermore, since Poland is a member of NATO, in the event of a military conflict, a US-led defense would also be brought into the conflict.

“Wagner’s troops are troubling us because they want to go on an ‘excursion’ to Warsaw and Rzeszow in Poland,” Lukashenko said in a meeting with Putin. In addition, he brought Putin a map of the movement of Polish troops along the border with Belarus. pic.twitter.com/uqlvAMWdeL

— NOELREPORTS (@NOELreports) July 23, 2023

The two leaders on the counterattack of Ukraine

The two leaders also discussed Ukraine, where Putin said Ukraine’s counter-offensive had “failed” and Lukashenko had said “there is no counter-offensive”.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive began last month but has made only minor gains against Russian forces. However, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday that Ukraine has successfully regained 50% of its territory that was seized by Russia throughout the war.