Minsk claims (once again) that Polish helicopter intruded into its airspace. Warsaw denies this.

The Defense Ministry of Belarus reported that a Polish helicopter intruded into the country’s airspace on September 28.

According to the agency, the aircraft appeared on the radars around 3 p.m. local time. Twenty minutes later, it crossed the Belarusian border, flying about a mile past it before leaving the country’s airspace. An hour later, it crossed the border again, going 300 meters into the Belarusian airspace.

The ministry also claims having lifted aircraft on duty into the air in connection with the incident.

The Polish Armed Forces General Command is denying these reports. Its spokesman Jacek Goryszewski said that Polish radar data clearly disproves them.

Belarus’s Foreign Ministry has nevertheless summoned the Polish charge d’affaires in Belarus Marcin Wojciechowski, insisting that denying “an obvious fact” will only look “ridiculous” on Poland’s part.

At the start of September, Belarus accused Poland of flying an Mi-24 military helicopter into its territory near Grodno. Poland called the assertion a provocation.

The same month, Warsaw accused Minsk of trying compromise the Polish state border, posting a video of migrants storming the border wall as proof. The footage later turned out to have been shot in 2021.

In August, Poland deployed additional troops on its border with Belarus.

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