STOCK PHOTO OF THE BELARUSIAN FLAG. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of Poland, Martin Wojciechowski, on Friday over an airspace violation alleged to have taken place the day before.

Source: European Pravda, citing a statement by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry

Details: The Polish diplomat was said to have been presented with “a strong protest in connection with the latest instance of violation of the state border of the Republic of Belarus by an aircraft from the Republic of Poland on 2 November”.

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“We have demanded a thorough investigation into this incident and the adoption of effective measures to prevent similar cases in the future,” the Belarusian Foreign Ministry added.

Valery Revenka, Head of the Department of International Military Cooperation of the Belarusian Ministry of Defence, commented on the incident in four languages, saying that the day before “a Polish light aircraft repeatedly crossed the border of Belarus to a depth of 200 metres while patrolling”.

“Since the beginning of September, Poland has carried out five similar incidents that can be described as ‘on the verge’,” Revenka added.

Neither he nor the Belarusian Foreign Ministry explained why it had taken Minsk a whole day to summon the head of the Polish embassy when they had done so within hours on two previous occasions.

The Polish media also drew attention to the fact that the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s statement was published only in Russian, and not in Belarusian or English, as previously.

Background: 

• In early September, the State Border Committee of Belarus also claimed that a Polish military helicopter had violated Belarusian airspace in the Byerastavitsa district of Grodno Oblast on the afternoon of Friday, 1 September.
• At the end of September, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence also claimed that a Polish helicopter had entered Belarusian airspace on two occasions.

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