ISTANBUL

Belarus on Thursday said “adequate response measures” were being taken against recent military activities in Poland and Baltic states, state news agency Belta reported.

“I can say with confidence that all our forecasts regarding the activities of the NATO bloc and its individual members have been fully confirmed. Of course, we are not sitting idly by, but are taking adequate response measures,” Alexander Volfovich, state secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, told a meeting.

Tensions between Belarus, a Russian ally, and Poland have risen in recent days, particularly because of the presence of the Wagner paramilitary group, which found refuge in the Eastern European country after its short-lived mutiny against Moscow in June.

The Polish government on Wednesday announced it is planning to deploy an additional 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus, and accused the Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal migration.

Neighbors of Belarus are trying to escalate the situation in the region in “every possible way,” Volfovich said, claiming that measures are being stepped up to militarize Poland and the Baltic countries.

He said they are studying in detail the experience of conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine “under these conditions."

“We are working on the tactics of conducting modern combat together with the instructors of the Wagner PMC (private military company). And we do not hide it. Everything is done solely for defensive purposes. The same applies to the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus,” he added.