Ex-Polish PM accuses gov’t of ‘seeking help’ from Wagner Group

Warsaw previously claimed that the Belarus-based private military force was relocating towards its border

Ex-Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has implied that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party used scaremongering tactics ahead of a crucial parliamentary election. The incumbent head of the government, Mateusz Morawiecki, blasted Tusk as a creature of the EU bureaucracy, who was oblivious to threats.

“It seems that PiS seeks the help of the Wagner Group because it fears the election,” Tusk declared in a tweet on Sunday, before urging supporters of his Civic Platform party to come for a rally in October.

He was apparently referring to Morawiecki’s previous claims that some 100 members of the Belarus-based private military company were marching towards the Polish border. Minsk ridiculed the Polish concerns, with President Alexander Lukashenko stating that Wagner troops were busy training Belarusian soldiers.

Morawiecki hit back hours later, claiming that Tusk was oblivious to the threats that Poland faced. The opposition leader “did not see his partner from the Sopot pier” attacking Crimea and Donbass, he declared.

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He was referring to Tusk’s 2009 meeting with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Polish town of Sopot. The two nations at the time sought to mend past rifts by marking together the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II.

The incumbent Polish prime minister accused his predecessor of serving German interests and suggested that the European People’s Party (EPP), a transnational EU political force that Tusk led until last year, should take him “back to Brussels.”

Tusk previously also served as president of the European Council and is an avowed supporter of European integration, unlike the nationalist government of PiS.

Poland is expected to hold the parliamentary election sometime in October, with PiS seeking to secure a third term in power. Some local media outlets have suggested that with the public feeling uncertainty over a foreign threat, the ruling party would score a better result.

As Tusk and Morawiecki traded barbs online, PiS leader Jarosaaw Kaczynski suggested that Wagner Group moved to Belarus with a “purpose,” possibly to “organize provocations or penetrate our border.” He added that the election would be held on time regardless.

Belarus agreed to take in the private Russian force after its leader, Evgeny Prigozhin, led a brief mutiny in June. His exile was part of a deal that Moscow accepted to avoid major bloodshed.