Military helicopter allegedly violated Belarusian airspace, Poland denies

2023-09-02 08:27:00

A conflict that erupts as the two countries are in a period of tension, with Westerners demanding that Belarus expel the Wagner group.

By MP with AFP These reactions come after Belarus summoned the representative in Minsk of Poland, a member of NATO, on Friday and denounced the “unacceptable” violation of its airspace by a military helicopter in the afternoon. . (Illustrative image) © WOJTEK RADWANSKI / AFP Published on 02/09/2023 at 08:27

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Poland denied on Friday that any of its military helicopters violated Belarusian airspace during this time of tension between the two neighbors. “These are lies and provocations on the part of Belarus,” Jacek Goryszewski, spokesman for the operational command of the Polish armed forces, told Agence France-Presse. “There were no such violations. This is apparent from the pilot’s reports and from the radar system recordings,” he added.

“It is possible that it is a Belarusian provocation, which would be quite logical,” said Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski. “We will analyze the situation. However, the statements of the Belarusian side should be taken with extreme caution,” he added to Polsat News television.

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These reactions come after Belarus summoned the representative in Minsk of Poland, a NATO member country, on Friday and denounced the “unacceptable” violation of its airspace by a military helicopter in the afternoon. “Belarusian diplomats drew the attention of the Polish side to the inadmissibility of this violation and urged Warsaw to take measures to rule out such incidents in the future,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“Poland’s charge d’affaires in Belarus has been summoned to the ministry,” he added in a statement. Belarusian border guards claimed on Telegram, video in support, that a “Polish Mi-24 military helicopter crossed the state border at very low altitude at a depth of 1,200 meters before returning”.

Westerners put pressure on Minsk

The episode comes against a backdrop of tensions between Minsk and its western neighbours. On Monday, Warsaw and the Baltic countries demanded that Belarus “immediately expel” the Wagner group from its territory, which they consider a threat to their own security.

Sign of the estrangement, Poland and Lithuania have erected fences along their borders with Belarus and Warsaw plans to deploy up to 10,000 soldiers there. Lithuania, for its part, closed on August 18 two of the six border crossings with its pro-Russian neighbor in reaction to the presence of Wagner.

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Thousands of Wagner fighters had traveled to Belarus after their abortive rebellion in Russia in June. In particular, they participated in the training of local soldiers, with Minsk’s agreement. After the recent death of Wagner’s boss in a plane crash, Alexander Lukashenko said he wanted to keep up to 10,000 fighters from the group in his country.