Poland has demanded the immediate departure of Wagner mercenaries and illegal migrants from Belarus, the country’s interior minister has said.

The situation in Belarus was part of talks on Monday between Mariusz Kaminski and his counterparts from the three Baltic states.

Kaminski, said that pressure on the border had been increasing in recent weeks owing to migrants trying to get into Poland.

He added that the “stationing of several thousand mercenaries from the Wagner Group in Belarus” was a new element adding to tensions in the region.

“Two things are necessary to stabilise the situation on our border with Belarus,” said Kaminski. “We demand the Lukashenko regime immediately orders the departure of the Wagner Group from Belarus, and that illegal migrants, who have been organised by the Belarusian security services, immediately leave the border zone and are sent back to their countries of origin.”

The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organisation led by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged a 24-hour mutiny against the Russian military commanders which ended after the Belarusian strongman, Alexander Lukashenko, agreed to mediate between Prigozhin and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin stopped his march on Moscow after he and his troops were promised safe haven in Belarus.

The mercenary leader, as well as his advisor Dmitry Utkin, died last week in a private jet crash in western Russia.