Two days ago, two Belarusian helicopters entered Polish airspace at low altitude, in what was seen as a provocation. The two countries on the eastern flank of NATO have adjusted their security on the border after the arrival of thousands of mercenaries from the Wagner group, who had participated in a short-lived riot in Russia, to Belarus, on the other side of their border.
“Russia and Belarus are increasing the pressure on the borders, increasing the number of their provocations, and we must be aware that these provocations will increase,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry denied that its helicopters entered Poland. The ministry’s press secretary, Anatoly Glaz, said the Polish affairs officer was summoned to the ministry in Minsk and told that Poland had rushed its conclusions.
“We urge the Polish side not to escalate the situation and not take advantage of it to militarize the border area,” Glaz said.
On Tuesday, Polish neighbors posted photos on social media of helicopters with Belarusian insignia flying over the area.
Morawiecki and Nauseda met in Suwalki, a town in the Suwalki Corridor, a 96-kilometre stretch along the Lithuanian-Polish border. The corridor links the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with the rest of NATO. It separates Russian ally Belarus from Kaliningrad, a heavily militarized Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.
Western military analysts consider the Suwalki Corridor a potential crisis zone in the event of a confrontation between Russia and NATO. They fear that an eventual occupation of the corridor by Russia would separate the three Baltic states from Poland and other countries of the alliance.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
