PARIS: Latvia and Lithuania called on Tuesday for NATO to strengthen its eastern borders in response to expectations that Russia’s Wagner private will set up a new base in Belarus after its abortive mutiny at home.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended the mercenaries’ mutiny in Russia on Saturday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wagner’s fighters would be offered the choice of relocating there.
“This move needs to be assessed from a different security point of view. We have seen the capabilities of those mercenaries,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told reporters during a visit to Paris with Baltic counterparts.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the speed with which Wagner had advanced on Moscow — driving hundreds of kilometers in a one-day race toward the capital — showed that the defense of Baltic states should be firmed up.
“Our countries’ borders are just hundreds of kilometers from that activity so it could take them 8-10 hours to suddenly appear somewhere in Belarus close to Lithuania,” Landsbergis said. “It is creating a more volatile, unpredictable environment for our region.”
“We need to take the defense of the Baltic region very seriously,” he said.
The Baltic envoys’ visit to France comes as Western powers gear up for a NATO summit next month in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Wagner’s arrival in Belarus should be viewed “in light of the NATO summit and all discussions that we are having about defense, deterrence and the necessary decisions to strengthen the security of the eastern flank,” said Latvia’s Rinkevics.
Belarus borders NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Germany said on Monday it was ready to station a 4,000-strong army brigade in Lithuania permanently. Landsbergis told his French counterpart that Paris could help with air defenses.
“France can be a valuable partner in strengthening air defense capabilities of Baltic countries,” he said. “We know about French technology and it could be used as part of our deterrence strategy so that no Wagner, no Russian military would ever think to cross Baltic states’ borders.”
Baltic states call for NATO to increase security with Wagner in Belarus
https://arab.news/wb6zp
Baltic states call for NATO to increase security with Wagner in Belarus
- "This move needs to be assessed from a different security point of view. We have seen the capabilities of those mercenaries," Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics
- Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the speed with which Wagner had advanced on Moscow showed that the defence of Baltic states should be firmed up
Palestine Action hunger strikers launch legal action against UK govt
- They accuse authorities of abandoning prison safety policies
- Several of the imprisoned activists have been hospitalized
LONDON: Hunger strikers from Palestine Action in the UK have launched legal action against the government, accusing it of abandoning the policy framework for prison safety, The Independent reported.
A pre-action letter was sent to Justice Secretary David Lammy by a legal firm representing the activists.
It came as several imprisoned members of the banned organization — including one who has refused food for 51 days — were hospitalized due to their deteriorating health while on hunger strike.
They say they have sent several letters to Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, but have received no response.
He was urged in the latest letter to respond within 24 hours as the issue is a “matter of urgency.”
The letter added: “Our clients’ health continues to deteriorate, such that the risk of their dying increases every day.”
An “urgent meeting” is needed “with the proposed defendant to discuss the deterioration of our clients’ health and to discuss attempts to resolve the situation,” it said.
Seven of the Palestine Action prisoners have been admitted to hospital since the hunger strike was launched on Nov. 2, including 30-year-old Amu Gib and Kamran Ahmed, 28.
They are being held in prisons across the country. Two members of the group have been forced to end their hunger strike due to health conditions: Jon Cink, 25, ended on day 41, while 22-year-old Umer Khalid finished on day 13.
Gib, now on day 51, was hospitalized last week and reportedly needs a wheelchair due to health concerns.
Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician, warned journalists last Thursday that some of the imprisoned activists “are dying” and need specialized medical care.
In a letter signed by more than 800 doctors, Smith said the hunger strikers were at “very high risk of serious complications, including organ failure, irreversible neurological damage, cardiac arrhythmias and death.”
The strikers are demanding that Palestine Action, which is classified as a terrorist organization, be de-proscribed.
They are also urging the government to shut down defense companies with ties to Israel, among other demands.
In response to the latest letter, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We strongly refute these claims. We want these prisoners to accept support and get better, and we will not create perverse incentives that would encourage more people to put themselves at risk through hunger strikes.”
