Named the reason for sending Polish troops to the border with Belarus

Poland sends troops to the border with Belarus, accusing Minsk of violating its airspace. The Polish military says that army helicopters allegedly crossed the borders between the two countries, heightening tensions caused by the proximity of Wagner fighters stationed on Belarusian territory.

Warsaw moved troops to its eastern border after accusing Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, of violating its airspace with military helicopters, Reuters reported.

The Belarusian military denied any such violation and accused Poland, a NATO member and one of Ukraine’s most ardent supporters in its conflict with Russia, of fabricating the accusation from Warsaw to justify its troop buildup on its eastern frontiers.

Earlier, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko taunted Poland over the presence of Russian Wagner mercenaries near their joint border, Reuters recalls.

The Polish Ministry of Defense said it was sending “additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters” to the border with Belarus. It said that it had informed NATO about the violation of the border, and the Charge d’Affaires of Belarus was summoned to give an explanation.

The Polish military initially denied that there had been any violation of the border, but later, after consultations, stated that the intrusion took place “at a very low altitude, difficult to intercept by radar”.

The Ministry of Defense of Belarus, in a message on Telegram, said that Warsaw had changed its mind about the incident, “obviously after consulting with its overseas masters.”

“This statement was not supported by data from Poland,” the Belarusian military department said in a statement. “The Ministry of Defense of Belarus considers this as “grandmother’s tales” and notes that the Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters did not violate the border.”

People living in the vicinity of the eastern Polish village of Bialowieza, close to the border with Belarus, shared messages on social media about what they said was a border violation even before the defense ministry released its statement.

Last week, Russian President Putin accused Poland of harboring territorial ambitions for Belarus and said Moscow would view any attack on its neighbor as an attack on itself, Reuters recalled.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lukashenka derisively told Poland that she should thank him for keeping the Wagner PMC fighters, who are now stationed in Belarus after a failed coup in June, in line. Since then, an unspecified number of Wagner fighters have moved to Belarus. Poland has already begun moving more than 1,000 of its own troops closer to the border.

Lukashenko joked at a meeting with Putin last month that some of the fighters were eager to get to Poland and “go on a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszow.”

State news agency Belta quoted him on Tuesday as saying that the Polish people “should pray that we keep [бойцов «Вагнера»] and provided for them. Otherwise, without us, they would have infiltrated and crushed Rzeszow and Warsaw to no small extent. So they shouldn’t blame me, they should say thank you.”

Rzeszow is a Polish city near the border with Ukraine, Reuters explains.

On Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said a group of 100 Wagner fighters allegedly approached the Belarusian city of Grodno, near the Polish border, describing the situation as “increasingly dangerous.”