2023-08-02 03:50:52
Poland said two Belarusian helicopters violated its airspace “during training” on Tuesday and that it would accordingly reinforce its military forces on its eastern border.
Earlier Tuesday, the Polish army had claimed that the helicopters had not violated the airspace of this member country of the Atlantic Alliance, before retracting afterwards.
“The violation took place in the Bialowieza region at very low altitude, complicating radar detection,” the ministry explained, adding that “NATO has been informed of the incident.” He also announced a reinforcement of military personnel on the border with Belarus, referring to an intensification of “hybrid actions” by Moscow and Minsk towards Poland.
The fear of mercenaries from the Wagner group behind the border
The Ministry of Defense in Minsk replied that the accusations “were made by the Polish army and political leaders to justify once again the increase in forces and means near the border”.
Poland and its neighbors on NATO’s eastern flank have expressed concerns about the potential threat posed by Belarus, which now hosts the Russian mercenary company Wagner.
On Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed that a group of “one hundred Wagner mercenaries” positioned in Belarus had moved closer to the Polish border, “a step towards even more hybrid attacks on Polish territory”. They will probably be disguised as Belarusian border guards, helping illegal immigrants to enter Polish territory, to destabilize Poland”, according to the Prime Minister, an allusion to the fall of 2021
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has mildly denied claims by Poland that around 100 Wagner mercenaries, who are in the country, have moved closer to the border, according to a statement quoted by CNN.
However, “if they did it, they did it only to pass on their combat experience to the (Belarusian, editor’s note) brigades, which are stationed in Brest and Grodno”, he continued. “I have to train my own military personnel, because an army that does not fight is half an army,” the president added.
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