Tensions Simmer Between Poland and Belarus After Incursion Reported

Tensions between Poland and Belarus simmered after the latter accused a Polish helicopter of entering its border on Friday.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said it summoned a Polish diplomat to demand an investigation after its military allegedly detected a Polish Mi-24 military helicopter flying 1,200 meters within its borders "at an extremely low altitude" before turning around, Reuters reported. Poland, however, has denied that one of its helicopters entered Belarus' borders.

The incident comes after relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent weeks amid Poland's concerns about the paramilitary Wagner Group's presence in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the Ukraine invasion, brokered a peace deal between the Kremlin and the Wagner Group in June after the organization's attempted mutiny against Moscow military leadership. The deal allowed the Wagner Group to transfer to Lukashenko's borders to avoid prosecution in Russia.

Poland has raised concerns that Wagner could invade its borders to take control of the Suwałki Gap, a small, but critical corridor that connects Poland to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Wagner taking control of this region would disconnect these countries from the rest of Europe, potentially allowing Russia to exert greater control over them, as well as draw a response from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of which Poland is a member.

Following the latest incursion, Belarus' Foreign Ministry said in a statement reported by Reuters: "Appropriate explanations were demanded from the Polish side and the conduct of a thorough investigation into the incident."

Polish Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski, however, denied that the incursion ever occurred.

"I do not confirm this information. None of the Polish helicopters crossed the border into Belarus. Such a border crossing could not have happened and it did not happen. Our radar systems are unambiguous," he said, according to Reuters.

Newsweek reached out to Poland and Belarus' foreign affairs ministries for comment via email.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko dismissed Poland's concerns about the Wagner Group, who has fought alongside Russia in Ukraine and whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last month. According to Belarusian news outlet BelTA, he called Polish demands to remove Wagner from Belarus "unreasonable and stupid."

"The answer is simple: neither in Poland, nor in Lithuania, nor in other countries There should not be a single foreign serviceman in the Baltic States. Then we can also make claims about the presence of servicemen from other countries here," Lukashenko said.

Following Wagner's transfer to Belarus, Poland has moved thousands of troops to the region near their shared border.

Putin has claimed, without evidence, that Poland appears to want to take control of its alleged "historic lands" by taking "a good chunk of Ukraine," despite Russia launching an invasion of Ukraine last February. He added that Poland leaders were also "dreaming of Belarusian lands."

Poland and Belarus have found themselves on the opposite sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has dominated European politics since its start. Poland has emerged as one of Ukraine's most ardent supporters, while Belarus has been one of Russia's only European allies amid the war.