The exile of Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner Private Military Company, to Belarus, following his failed mutiny in Russia, has escalated tensions in the Baltic states. The region, which is already on a war footing to cater to the NATO-powered counter-offensive by Ukraine against Russia, will witness further militarization by NATO and the EU.
According to reports, Prigozhin and some of his forces are likely to be stationed in Belarusian territory, near the Ukrainian border. In response, on Tuesday, June 27, Latvia and Lithuania called for NATO to strengthen its borders with Belarus.
On Monday, June 26, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, German defense minister Boris Pistorius, and Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda visited the German and Lithuanian troops conducting joint training in Exercise Griffin Storm at Pabrade, Lithuania.
On the occasion the German Defense Minister also announced to permanently station 4,000 Bundeswehr soldiers in Lithuania “to stand up for the protection of the eastern flank of Europe.”
The 2023 NATO summit is also going to take place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on July 11 and 12, where future strategies for the Ukrainian counter offensive and other NATO manifestations in the region will be discussed.
Earlier in June, NATO also held the ‘Air Defender 23’ exercise in the region, involving around 10,000 military personnel and 250 aircraft from 25 countries.
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have actively supported NATO machinations in Ukraine against Russia.
Recently, Poland has become a warehouse of NATO logistics and ammunition and a training ground for Ukrainian soldiers. Lithuanians joined by blocking supplies from Russia to its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, last year. Even before the start of the war in Ukraine, Belarus has been at loggerheads with Poland for supporting pro-EU protests in Belarus.
Meanwhile, progressive groups on both sides have raised serious concerns over recent developments.
Die Linke or The Left Party in Germany has criticized the German defense minister’s announcement to permanently station German troops in Lithuania.
On June 26, speaking to Junge Welt, Ali Al-Dailami, deputy chairman and defense policy spokesman for Die Linke, said that “the defense minister’s announcement sends a completely wrong signal: instead of helping to end the Ukraine war through diplomatic mediation, the German government is once again relying on military confrontation.”
“The stationing of thousands of Bundeswehr soldiers would certainly not contribute to an ‘urgently needed détente’, but would continue to turn the escalation screw”, warned Al-Dailami.
On June 27, Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) stressed the need to regulate private military contractors like PMC Wagner. Zyuganov reminded that he “warned a long time ago that only the state should have the right to military mobilization.”
“And this right should be strictly regulated by law. And in the army there can only be unity of command … And there must be discipline. Otherwise, we will face the worst shocks”, he added.
