Poland rushed more troops on its eastern border Tuesday after accusing Russian ally Belarus of violating its airspace using military helicopters.
Poland’s defence ministry in a statement said it was sending “additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters” to the border. It added that it also informed NATO about the alleged intrusion and sought an explanation from Belarus’s chargé d’affaires.
Belarus, on the other hand, denies the claims and alleges that Warsaw was inventing accusations as a pretext for a heavy military build-up on the border.
Interestingly, Poland earlier denied that any border violation has taken place. However, it later concluded following “consultations” that the intrusion had indeed taken place “at a very low height, hard to intercept by radar”.
Belarus alleged that Poland changed its statement “apparently after consulting its overseas masters.” Belarusian defence ministry wrote on Telegram, “This statement was not backed up by data from Poland.”
“The Belarusian defence ministry views it in the manner of an ‘old wives’ tale’ and notes there were no border violations by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters,” it added.
Wagner forces in Belarus
The move from Poland comes after Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko earlier on Tuesday (August 1) mockingly said that Wagner fighters stationed there were eager to “go on a trip to Warsaw,” a statement that sounded alarm bells in the NATO-member country.
It must be noted that an unspecified number of Wagner forces have moved to Belarus following the alleged mutiny episode in Russia. They are said to have been training Lukashenko’s army in Belarus ever since.
During a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin last month, Lukashenko had jokingly said that some of the fighters were keen to press into Poland and Ukraine.
He said, “Polish people should pray that we’re holding on to [the Wagner fighters] and providing for them. Otherwise, without us, they would have seeped through and smashed up Rzeszów and Warsaw in no small way. So they shouldn’t reproach me, they should say thank you.”
Poland has already started deploying about 1,000 troops on the eastern border following these threats.
Earlier on Saturday (July 29), Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said a group of 100 fighters had moved closer to the Polish border, significantly ratcheting up the security threats for Warsaw.
News ID : 2306