We are in constant contact with our NATO allies. I just spoke with United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the head of the Defense Ministry Mariusz Błaszczak wrote on social media on Saturday.
In a tweet, the head of the Ministry of National Defense noted that “we are in constant contact with our NATO allies”. He also said, “I just spoke with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.”
There is no threat to Poland
Together we monitor the situation. The events in Russia do not pose a direct threat to Poland’s security
he assured.
The owner of the mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Saturday evening that his troops, who had been moving towards Moscow since Friday, had begun to withdraw and were moving towards field camps to avoid bloodshed. Minsk authorities claim they are brokering talks about security guarantees for mercenaries.
In an audio statement, Prigozhin said that the Wagner group had reached a distance of 200 km from Moscow and during that time had “not shed a single drop of blood from its soldiers”. He added that “now is the time for this bloodshed to take place”, so “realizing the responsibility” for such a situation, the mercenaries begin to retreat.
We’re going back to the field camps
said Prigozhin.
Lukashenko-Prigozhin talks
Shortly before, Alyaksandr Lukashenko’s office reported that he had spoken with Prigozhin and agreed to stop the mercenary column on its way to Moscow. Lukashenko conducted these talks in consultation with Vladimir Putin, Minsk said. According to Reuters, Lukashenko’s law firm claims he brokered an agreement to halt the advance of the Wagner Group in exchange for security guarantees.
Reports of the withdrawal of the Wagner Group came at a time when, according to various reports, troops of about 5,000 people were located in different regions of Russia. Information appeared, difficult to verify, about the presence of mercenaries already in the Moscow region – in Serpukhov and Kaszyr.
In response to the mercenary advance, all crossings across the Oka in the Moscow region were blocked. Reserve units of soldiers sent from other regions of Russia arrived in Moscow on Saturday night, according to the independent portal Vazhnye Istoria.
gah/PAP
Source: wPolityce