Belarus Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters violate Polish airspace as provocation while Wagner Group threatens of imminent action.

Balkaninsight.com reports that, 10 hours after the first sightings on August 1, the Polish Defence Ministry confirmed that two Belarusian helicopters – an Mi-8 and an Mi-24 – had violated the Polish airspace and announced that military reinforcements would be sent to the border. This incursion was a deliberate move intended to provoke Warsaw, according to a report published on August 1 in Polish media outlet Onet. Minsk’s taunt prompted Poland to send more troops to its border with Belarus.

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Belarusian Mi-8 in the Polish airspace (Picture source: Eliza Kowalczyk on Facebook)

Minsk had informed Warsaw about an exercise, but the border crossing by two helicopters took place in the eastern Bialowieza region at a “very low altitude, making detection by radar systems difficult,” the Polish Defense Ministry said in a statement.

So, on Tuesday, August 1, around 11:00 am, several residents of Bialowieza started to post on Facebook shots of two helicopters – some taken from below, others from afar – all clearly showing Belarusian national colors and symbols, balkaninsight.com reports. An owner of a guesthouse in the center of Bialowieza swore that two helicopters had flown right over her roof, while local scientists reported seeing two helicopters flying low from the direction of the town and heading back towards Belarusian territory.

Claudia Chiappa in Politico writes that, at first, Warsaw denied rumors of airspace violations by helicopters on August 1, but later explained that the border crossing took place in the area of Białowieża at a very low altitude, which made it difficult for radar systems to detect. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs then confirmed the airspace violation on Tuesday (August 1) evening and said it had summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Belarusian embassy to “immediately explain the incident,” calling the violation another “element in escalating the tension at the Polish-Belarusian border.”

Mariusz Błaszczak, Poland’s Defense minister, said on August 1 he had convened a meeting of the National Security and Defense Affairs Committee to discuss the incident. As a result of the violation, Poland said it would increase the number of troops patrolling the Poland-Belarus frontier, in addition to allocating more forces and resources to the area. Błaszczak said he also notified NATO about the incident: “Due to possible further provocations, we call for responsible dissemination and commentary on information that may be used by the Russian and Belarusian regimes”.

However, the Polish Ministry of Defense released a public statement on the incident that confirmed the intrusion:

"After the commanders and service chiefs presented conclusions from the analysis of the situation, it was established that today, August 1, 2023, there was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters that were carrying out training near the border. The Belarusian side had previously informed the Polish side about the training. The border crossing took place in the Białowieża area at a very low altitude, making it difficult to detect by radar systems. Therefore, in the morning announcement, the Operational Command of the Armed Forces Branches informed that the Polish radar systems did not record any violation of Polish airspace.

Mariusz Błaszczak, the Minister of National Defense, chairman of the Committee for National Security and Defense Affairs, ordered to increase the number of soldiers on the border and allocate additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters.

NATO was informed of the incident.

In addition, the Committee agreed that the charge d’affaires of Belarus would be summoned to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the incident. We would like to remind you that Russia and Belarus have recently intensified hybrid activities against Poland.

Due to possible further provocations, we call for responsible dissemination and commenting on information that may be used by the Russian and Belarusian regimes."

Tensions have risen between Minsk and Warsaw after a group of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus moved closer to the Polish border last month. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that mercenaries, possibly disguised in Belarussian (if not Polish) border guards, could “try to infiltrate Poland, pretending to be illegal immigrants” and may so stage a “hybrid attack.”

On July 23, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko joked after a meeting with his ally Russian President Vladimir Putin that some of the Wagner fighters were keen to press into Poland and “go on a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszow”. Putin, in turn, has accused Poland of having territorial designs on Belarus.

Belarusian Mi-8 and Mi-24 in the Polish airspace (Picture source: Eliza Kowalczyk on Facebook)

Belarusian Mi-8 in the Polish airspace (Picture source: Eliza Kowalczyk on Facebook)