MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. The Polish Defense Ministry has decided to redeploy troops from the western part of the country to the border with Belarus in the east amid reports that Minsk plans exercises with the private military company Wagner, Zbigniew Hoffmann, the secretary of the Polish cabinet’s Committee for National Security and Defense Affairs, told the Polish Press Agency on Friday.

"The committee analyzed potential threats, including the deployment of Wagner Group units. In this regard, the head of the committee, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, decided to redeploy our military formations from the west to the east of Poland," he said.

Hoffmann said "the mission of these units is exercises, as well as deterrence of a potential aggressor."

According to the Polish official, the planned joint maneuvers of the Belarusian army and PMC Wagner are "a clear provocation."

The Belarusian Defense Ministry earlier announced that its special operations forces will team up with Wagner fighters to rehearse some combat missions at the Brest training range near the border with Poland. The ministry also said Wagner are helping train territorial defense troops near the city of Osipovichi. Minsk hasn’t given the number of Wagner fighters that are stationed in Belarus.

In early July, the General Command of the Polish Armed Forces said it decided to redeploy 1,000 troops and almost 200 units of equipment from the 12th and 17th Mechanized Brigades to eastern Poland.