Lithuania and Latvia: NATO must step up security of eastern borders now that Wagnerites are in Belarus

On Tuesday, 27 June, the foreign ministers of two Baltic states urged the North Atlantic Alliance to strengthen its eastern borders in response to the deployment of fighters from the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) in Belarus.

Source: Reuters, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Latvian Foreign Minister and President-elect Edgars Rinkēvičs noted that the relocation of the Wagnerites and their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to Belarus needs to be assessed from a security perspective.

Quote: "[This should be viewed] in light of the NATO summit and all the discussions that we are having about defence, deterrence and the necessary decisions to strengthen the security of the eastern flank," said the Latvian minister.

Details: Meanwhile, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that the pace at which the Wagnerites had moved towards Moscow was proof of the need to reinforce the defence of the Baltic states.

"Our countries' borders are just hundreds of kilometres from that activity, so it could take them 8-10 hours to suddenly appear somewhere in Belarus close to Lithuania. It is creating a more volatile, unpredictable environment for our region," Landsbergis said.

Background: As previously reported, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC, arrived in Belarus on 27 June as part of an agreement with self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that put an end to the mercenaries’ rebellion in Russia over the weekend.

Belarus shares borders with three NATO member states: Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Polish President Andrzej Duda has stated that the Wagner Group’s relocation to Belarus is a very negative signal for his country.

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