Tensions high on Nato's border with Belarus as Wagner troops move closer

A senior Polish official called for the “complete isolation” of Belarus as Warsaw deployed more troops to the border in response to what it called an airspace violation by Belarusian helicopters. 
 

The move marks a sharp escalation in tension between Poland and its eastern neighbor after the Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group that stage an aborted mutiny decamped to Belarus. Polish and Baltic authorities have increasingly warned of a mounting security threat, calling for measures to punish Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. 
 

“I am convinced that in cooperation with Lithuania and Latvia, we should work toward the complete isolation of Belarus in the future,” Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik told public television Wednesday. “Lukashenko reacts only to force.”
 

Poland’s Foreign Ministry late Tuesday summoned Belarus’s ambassador and demanded an explanation for the violation of its airspace “immediately and in detail.” Belarus’s Defense Ministry denied any its Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters crossed over Polish territory, according to the state-owned Belta news agency.
 

Poland’s head of the National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, said the country has prepared a variety of scenarios on possible provocations that could be carried out by the Wagner group mercenaries. “Underestimating the activities of Wagner group would be a mistake,” Siewiera told Wprost newspaper. 
 

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday the US was unaware of specific threats posed by Wagner to Poland or any other NATO member. 
 

But the issue has emerged as a political topic in Poland months ahead of an election. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned on Saturday that some of the fighters may attempt to infiltrate his country alongside illegal migrants, evoking Belarus’s decision in 2021 to send migrants — mostly from the Middle East — into the European Union across the Polish and Baltic borders. 
 

Poland’s border protection agency said the Wagner presence in Belarus had heightened the security risk. The authority cited the gathering of larger groups throwing stones and firing blank bullets at border personnel. 
 

Taking cognizance of the matter Polish and Lithuanian leaders held an urgent meeting on Thursday in a strategically sensitive area where their NATO nations border Belarus and the Russian territory of Kaliningrad, warning that they are bracing for provocations from Moscow and Minsk in the area.

Russia fines Wikipedia, Apple for spreading ‘false information’ about Ukraine conflict

A Russian court on Thursday imposed fines on Apple and the host of Wikipedia for failing to remove material deemed to be “false information” about Russia's military actions in Ukraine.

A justice of the peace in a magistrate's court, which handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases, fined the Wikimedia Foundation 3 million rubles (USD 33,000) for retaining material on Russian-language Wikipedia pages that violated a law against discrediting Russia's military and spreading false information about the Ukraine conflict, the Interfax news agency reported.The same justice found Apple guilty of failing to delete podcasts and apps with such information and fined the company 400,000 rubles (UAD 4,400).
 

Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has enacted an array of measures to punish any criticism or questioning of the military campaign.