Provocations involving the Wagner PMC will be regarded by NATO as supported by the Russian leadership - Latvian Ambassador
NATO will consider possible provocations involving mercenaries of the Wagner private military company (PMC), which is currently in Belarus, as actions supported by the leadership of Russia.
This was stated by Latvian Ambassador to NATO Maris Riekstins in an interview for the TV3 channel, Delfi reports.
It is noted that the ambassador assessed the possibility of provocations by the Wagner troopers as relatively low but did not rule them out completely. At the same time, Riekstins emphasizes: if provocations do take place, NATO will regard them as actions supported by the Russian leadership and will respond with appropriate steps, and it will no longer work to get confused with statements that the group is a private company.
In addition, the Latvian ambassador, speaking about the recent flight of Belarusian helicopters over Poland, noted that the purpose of such actions is to question NATO's readiness for various security risks.
The publication reports that the diplomat, assessing the risks associated with the exercises of the Russian fleet in the Baltic Sea, noted that the military exercises are more a demonstration of force than a cover for provocations. He also expects that the following Russian-Belarusian West exercises may be more modest in scale than the previous ones since Russian resources are mostly engaged in the war in Ukraine.
"I am sure that NATO is ready to react in accordance with the needs of the situation," Riekstins emphasized.
He added that NATO regularly conducts threat analysis, based on which proposals for solutions at the political level are prepared.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in the meantime, the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, announced the presence of Wagner PMC near the Lithuanian border in the Grodno region of Belarus.
John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, said that the United States does not see a threat from the Wagner missile defense system to NATO.
Meanwhile, the 14th convoy of Wagner troopers has already arrived on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. It consisted of 15 vehicles, most of which were trucks with containers.