MINSK, Sep 3 to enter the territory of Lithuania with armed forces, allegedly for the purpose of protection, Andrey Bogodel, deputy head of the faculty of the general staff of the armed forces of the Military Academy of Belarus, said in an interview with STV.
«Every military person is well aware that the Suwalki corridor does not pass through the territory of only Poland, where, in essence, there are no serious transport routes, but only swamps. And it passes a little north-west, through the territory of Lithuania. And Poland therefore constantly escalates the situation in order to subsequently enter the territory of Lithuania and occupy the Vilna region, allegedly under the auspices of the protection of this region,» Bogodel said.
He also expressed his opinion on why politicians in Poland are concerned about the deployment of fighters of the Wagner group on the territory of Belarus. “They understand that the armed forces will not oppose any, and a private military company with vast experience can seriously change the alignment of forces if something happens. Well, at the request of, for example, the people of Lithuania, let’s say this. Therefore, they also predict this situation And this can also be,» the expert said.
At the end of July, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki expressed concern that the fighters of the Wagner group stationed in Belarus would enter Poland under the guise of illegal migrants. He stated that Poland has information that more than 100 fighters from the Wagner group allegedly advanced to the Suwalki corridor near the Belarusian Grodno. Morawiecki said that «this is a step towards a subsequent hybrid attack on the territory of Poland.» Later, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, in response to this statement, noted that the Wagner fighters who arrived in the republic were not advanced to Poland, but were still deployed in a temporary camp in the center of the republic or were training Belarusian military at western training grounds.
The «Suwalki corridor» refers to a section of territory near the city of Suwalki in northeastern Poland, which is located between Belarus and the Kaliningrad region of Russia, its length is about 100 kilometers.
Earlier, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak said that a new engineer battalion would be created in this area this year, which would be part of the 15th mechanized brigade of the 16th mechanized division.
>