Mariusz Kamiński wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he had held a telephone conversation with his Lithuanian counterpart, Agne Bilotaite, "to establish joint reactions to the emerging threats from Belarus."
Darek Delmanowicz/PAP

Poland and Lithuania are considering closing their respective borders with Belarus amid concerns over the presence of the Russia-linked Wagner Group of mercenaries in Belarus, the Polish interior minister has said.

Mariusz Kamiński wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he had held a telephone conversation with his Lithuanian counterpart, Agne Bilotaite, “to establish joint reactions to the emerging threats from Belarus.”

The two discussed the possible closure of all border crossings and complete isolation of the regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Earlier on Friday, a Lithuanian deputy interior minister, Arnoldas Abramavicius, announced that in response to the transfer of Wagner Group mercenaries to Belarus, Lithuania would close two out of six border crossings with that country.

On Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met with his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, on the Polish-Lithuanian border to discuss the threats posed by the presence of Russian mercenaries in Belarus. The two met in the Suwałki Gap, which separates the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea from Belarus. According to Morawiecki, over 100 of some 4,000 Wagner mercenaries present in Belarus had moved close to the Suwałki Gap.