Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has made claims about a NATO plot on Polish soil—and contradicted Vladimir Putin's version of World War II in doing so.
In a statement to Newsweek, the Polish foreign ministry dismissed Lukashenko's claims as "baseless" and condemned Minsk's "hostile and confrontational policy."
Lukashenko, the only post-Soviet president Belarus has known, is Putin's closest ally and relied on the Russian leader to maintain his power after disputed elections in 2020 followed by a brutal crackdown. Lukashenko has so far not involved Minsk directly in Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine but he has allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory as a launching pad for attacks.
During a speech in the capital Minsk on Tuesday to senior staff of the Belarusian security agencies, Lukashenko said intelligence agencies in Warsaw and Washington were planning provocations on Polish soil which will be blamed on Russia and Belarus.
Newsweek has contacted NATO for comment by email.
"We know about all intelligence-led scenarios of various kinds of provocations and extremist actions involving militants in Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania and we will publicize them as much as possible," Lukashenko said in the clip posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko.
"Polish-American intelligence is preparing a large-scale provocation against Polish civilians which will be blamed on Russia and Belarus. You see they need a pretext, a reason," the Belarusian leader said.
"Once, fascists, Hitler prepared such an operation on the border with Poland to provoke the beginning of the hostilities," he added.
This is at odds with Putin's claims about the start of World War II. The Russian leader told U.S. talk show host Tucker Carlson earlier this month that Adolf Hitler was "forced" to invade Poland because it was being "uncooperative," a version dismissed as nonsense by Warsaw.
Lukashenko continued, "Americans don't care if the last Ukrainian or the last Pole dies. But how can Poles discuss such a scenario with Americans?
"There will be howls both here and there like, 'Oh, he's escalating the situation by frightening the Poles. This can't be.'" Lukashenko added: "I'm telling the Poles and everybody else."
Gerashchenko wrote next to the clip: "Lukashenko decided to remind of his existence and hinted of a provocation in Poland, prepared by the Western intelligence services. We know who are the ones really preparing the provocations."
During his speech, Lukashenko also told his top brass, "We don't need war, and we must be prepared for it both mentally and strategically," in comments reported by Belarusian state agency Belta that are likely to fuel concerns about whether Putin might call on his ally to help him in the war he started.
"Baseless accusations and the shifting of responsibility by the Belarusian authorities for the current situation in the region have permanently entered the arsenal of Minsk's foreign policy tools," the Polish foreign ministry told Newsweek
"They serve as an excuse for the introduction of more solutions whose only aim is further escalation," the statement added. "Belarus acts as one of the main destabilizing factors of the security situation in the region.
"While Belarus has already made numerous accusations and allegations against Poland in the past, so far it is only Minsk's actions that have been the source of all tensions.
"Provoking further degradation of bilateral and multilateral relations, supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine and sustaining the potential for a migration crisis on the EU's eastern border are just a few manifestations of Minsk's hostile and confrontational policy."
Putin has taken a further step to integrate the Belarusian economy with Russia's after signing deals last month in the military and customs spheres, which the Belarusian opposition has warned will make Minsk more dependent on Moscow against the wishes of the population.
"Lukashenko is probably the only dictator in the world who gives up his own sovereignty and his own country," Franak Viačorka, senior advisor to Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Newsweek. "His personal power matters for him more than the preservation of the country."
Update 02/23/24, 9:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the Polish foreign ministry.
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Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
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