By Anderson Rodriguez
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday that it had summoned the business manager of the Belarusian Embassy after two Belarusian military helicopters entered its airspace on Tuesday.
“The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed a firm protest and urged Belarus to explain the incident in detail and immediately,” the institution said in a brief statement.
Speaking to Polish public radio, Skurkiewicz stressed that this situation is “absolutely unsafe” and added that his country will take appropriate measures against potential threats in the event of an escalation.
Poland informed NATO of the breach and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak decided to increase the number of troops and military assets on the border, including helicopters.
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“Due to the possibility of further provocations, we ask that information and comments that may be exploited by the Russian and Belarusian regimes be disseminated responsibly,” the Defense statement concludes.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry called on Poland not to aggravate the situation or use it to militarize the border. In addition, he stressed that the easing of the already difficult situation in bilateral relations is only possible within the framework of a “mutually respectful and constructive dialogue”.
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Defense, the Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters “flew at an altitude of 150-200 meters, and their flight path did not come closer than 1,900 meters” from the border. That same day, the agency added, a Polish Mi-2 helicopter approached less than 200 meters from the border with Belarus, offering the tracking data from radar stations as evidence.