Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that his country would respond to any aggression against its ally Belarus, after Poland deployed troops on its eastern border following the deployment of fighters of the Russian military group Wagner on Belarusian soil.
In a warning to Warsaw, Putin said during a meeting with members of Russia's National Security Council that any aggression against Belarus, which forms a union with Russia, was an aggression against his country, and that Moscow would respond to it by all available means.
He spoke of the formation of a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian military unit to occupy territory in western Ukraine, as well as plans to seize territory in Belarus.
The Russian president said that this is like a dangerous game whose owners do not imagine the consequences that will ensue, as he put it. Poland denies it has any intention of controlling territory in Belarus or Ukraine.
Moscow and Minsk recently confirmed Russia's deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Polish reinforcements
Meanwhile, the Polish news agency reported on Friday that the Polish army is moving military forces to the east of the country on the border with Belarus.
The agency attributed the reinforcements to potential security threats related to Russia's Wagner Group.
The move by Polish forces came a day after it was revealed that Wagner troops were participating in a Belarusian army exercise near the border with Poland.
NATO member Poland has a 418-kilometre border with Belarus.
Recently, Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartabulov suggested Russian preparations for an attack on Poland by a group of Wagner fighters.
Before deploying in Belarus, Wagner forces were fighting in Ukraine, leading the Russian offensive on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhamut, until they staged a military insurgency inside Russia last June.