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
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
