Boss Wagner arrives in Belarus, NATO Secretary General makes "strong" statement

After a meeting in The Hague with Mr Stoltenberg and the leaders of six NATO member states, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said: "If Wagner deploys forces in Belarus, all neighboring countries will face an even greater risk of instability."

Polish President Andrzej Duda commented: "This is really serious and very worrying. We have to make a very strong decision. It requires a very strong response from NATO."

Wagner soldiers on top of a tank in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Photo: Reuters

The head of the Wagner private military organization Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on June 27 under a deal negotiated with the mediation of President Alexander Lukashenko to end the military coup in Russia last weekend.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wagner troops would be given the option of moving to Belarus. Mr Stoltenberg said it was too early to say what impact this would have on NATO allies, stressing that defences on its eastern flank had been strengthened in recent years.

According to Reuters news agency, Mr. Stoltenberg emphasized: "We have sent a clear message to Moscow and Minsk that NATO is there to protect every ally, every inch of NATO territory."

The NATO chief said it was more important to continue supporting Ukraine.

Mr Duda hopes the threat posed by Wagner forces will be on the agenda at the summit of 31 NATO members in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12.

In a related development, the US announced sanctions against companies accused of engaging in illegal gold trading to finance Wagner.

Specifically, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Central African Republic and Russia accused of being linked to Wagner and Mr. Prigozhin.

“The United States will continue to target Wagner’s revenue streams to degrade its operations in Africa, Ukraine, and elsewhere,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. The action against Wagner was unrelated to last weekend’s mutiny, according to the State Department .

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on June 27 that the finances of the food supply company owned by Mr. Prigozhin would be investigated after the coup, and said that Wagner and the leader of this group had received nearly $2 billion from Russia in the past year.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su-quoc-te/trum-wagner-den-belarus-tong-thu-ky-nato-tuyen-bo-ran-20230628083246969.htm