Belarus accuses Poland of violating its airspace, Warsaw denies

On the Polish-Belarusian border, military movements are carefully monitored. Belarus, with video support, condemned an “unacceptable” violation of its airspace this afternoon by a military helicopter belonging to Poland, a NATO member country.

Warsaw categorically denied these accusations, calling them “lies and provocations.” According to the representative of the operational command of the Polish armed forces, Jacek Goryshevsky, “there were no such violations.”

Crossing at very low altitude

“Belarusian diplomats drew the attention of the Polish side to the inadmissibility of this violation and called on Warsaw to take measures to prevent such incidents in the future,” a Foreign Ministry official said in the afternoon, calling the Polish charge d’affaires. Affairs in Belarus.

Belarusian border guards stated on Telegram in support that “a Polish Mi-24 military helicopter crossed the state border at a very low altitude at a depth of 1200 meters and then returned.”

On Monday, Warsaw and the Baltic states demanded that Belarus “immediately expel” the Wagner group from their territory, which they consider a threat to their own security. As a sign of alienation, Poland and Lithuania have erected fences along their borders with Belarus, and Warsaw plans to station up to 10,000 soldiers there.

Lithuania on August 18 closed two of six border crossings with its pro-Russian neighbor in response to Wagner’s presence. Thousands of Wagner fighters went to Belarus after the failed June uprising in Russia. In particular, with the consent of Minsk, they participated in the training of local soldiers.

Following the recent death of boss Wagner in a plane crash, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he wants to keep up to 10,000 of the group’s fighters in his country.