Two Belarusian helicopters entered Polish territory, Warsaw demands explanations
Belarusian chargé d'affaires to be summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry to explain the incident
Poland has urgently summoned the chargé d'affaires of the Belarusian Embassy to the Foreign Ministry after two Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated Polish airspace.
Source. This was reported by Polish Radio.
Polish media reported on Tuesday that two Belarusian helicopters flew over the city of Bialowieza near the Polish-Belarusian border. Photos of the helicopters were published by local volunteer Eliza Kowalczyk.
Independent investigators found that the Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters flew about 3 km deep into Poland, then turned and flew back to Belarus.
The Polish authorities initially denied the violation of airspace and claimed that the tracking systems did not detect the Belarusian helicopters.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland expressed a strong protest and called on the Belarusian side to immediately provide a detailed explanation of the incident. The Polish side emphasized that this incident is seen as another element of escalating tensions on the Polish-Belarusian border. Poland expects Belarus to refrain from such actions," the Polish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In connection with today's incident, Minister Mariusz Blaszczak ordered to increase the number of troops on the border and allocate additional forces and means, including combat helicopters. The incident was reported to NATO.
The country's Defense Ministry reminds that russia and Belarus have recently intensified hybrid activities against Poland.
"In view of possible further provocations, we urge you to responsibly disseminate and comment on information that could be used by the russian and Belarusian regimes," the Defense Ministry wrote.
The Belarusian side did not comment on these reports.
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