© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a gathering at the Novatek-Murmansk’s Offshore Superfacility Construction Center in the village of Belokamenka, Murmansk build, Russia July 20, 2023. Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Kremlin via REUTERS/file photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused NATO member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the extinct Soviet Union, and acknowledged any aggression in opposition to Russia’s neighbour and terminate ally Belarus may maybe maybe be idea to be an assault on Russia.
Moscow would react to any aggression in opposition to Belarus, which kinds a free “Union Advise” with Russia, “with the total potential at our disposal”, Putin told a gathering of his Security Council in televised remarks.
Warsaw’s Security Committee decided on Wednesday to transfer militia gadgets to jap Poland after contributors of the Russian Wagner mercenary force arrived in Belarus, the stammer-inch files company PAP quoted its secretary as saying on Friday.
Poland denies any territorial ambitions in Belarus.
In his remarks Putin had also acknowledged that the western share of Poland became as soon as a reward from Soviet chief Joseph Stalin to the country and that Russia would remind Poles about it.
In obvious reference to that, Polish High Minister Mateusz Morawiecki tweeted on Friday night that “Stalin became as soon as a battle prison, guilty of the death of a complete bunch of thousands of Poles. Historical truth is now not arguable.”
“The ambassador of the Russian Federation can be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, he acknowledged.
On Thursday, Belarus acknowledged Wagner mercenaries had began to put together Belarusian particular forces at a militia differ trusty a pair of miles from the Polish border.
RUSSIA STAGING TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Russia has in present weeks begun stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus for the first time. The Kremlin acknowledged Putin would meet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, with whom he speaks frequently, in Russia on Sunday.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius acknowledged on Friday that Germany and NATO hold been willing to toughen Poland in defending the militia alliance’s jap flank.
Putin acknowledged there hold been press stories of plans for a Polish-Lithuanian unit to be ragged for operations in western Ukraine – formula of which in the past belonged to Poland – and indirectly to admire territory there.
“It is wisely-known that moreover they dream of the Belarusian lands,” he acknowledged, also without providing any evidence.
On Wednesday, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin became as soon as shown in a video welcoming his opponents to Belarus, telling them they would clutch no extra share for now in the battle in Ukraine but ordering them to amass strength for Wagner’s operations in Africa while they educated the Belarusian military.
Prigozhin says Wagner, which led the conquest of the Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut, is Russia’s easiest combating force. But his frequent clashes with the Moscow defence institution led him to stage an armed mutiny four weeks ago.
The rebel ended with an agreement that Wagner opponents – many recruited from detention center – may maybe maybe transfer to Belarus if they wished.
