Poland is sending additional troops to its border with Belarus, a key Russian ally, after what it described as an airspace violation by two Belarusian military helicopters.
On Aug. 1, Poland’s defense ministry announced its decision to send “additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters,” to its eastern border.
According to the ministry, Warsaw has informed NATO of the alleged breach and summoned the Belarusian charge d’affaires to provide an explanation.
Poland joined the Western NATO alliance in 1999. Since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year, Warsaw has been among Kyiv’s staunchest supporters.
While the Polish military initially denied any violations by Belarus, it later stated the breach had occurred “at very low altitude” and was therefore hard to detect.
Minsk, for its part, asserts that the story was fabricated to provide a pretext for more Polish deployments to the border.
“There were no border violations by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Wagner Factor
Tension along the 250-mile border spiked last month following the arrival of Russian Wagner Group fighters in Belarus, where they are training units of the Belarusian military.Training is reportedly being conducted at a military facility near Poland’s border.
In late June, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny that had briefly appeared to threaten Moscow itself. The crisis was averted, however, after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a de-escalation deal.
Under the deal, Wagner fighters—including Mr. Prigozhin—were allowed to relocate to Belarus, prompting fears that their presence could destabilize an already tense region.
Citing “possible threats” posed by the Wagner Group, Warsaw soon began sending additional troops to the Belarusian border.
Two weeks after Mr. Prigozhin’s rebellion, Poland dispatched more than 1,000 troops to the country’s east.
On July 8, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the move demonstrated Warsaw’s readiness “to respond to attempts at destabilization.”
Boris Gryzlov, Moscow’s envoy to Minsk, later warned that Russia and Belarus—which are bound by their own defense treaty—were ready to “repel any threat” to their collective security.
On July 29, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed that 100 Wagner fighters had recently entered the Belarusian city of Grodno, which sits roughly 10 miles from the Polish border.
“The situation is getting increasingly dangerous,” Mr. Morawiecki, who didn’t give a source for his information, told reporters.
Russia and Belarus Alliance
It isn’t the first time that tensions have flared near Poland’s border.Last November, The Associated Press cited an unnamed “U.S. intelligence official” who erroneously claimed that a Russian missile had struck Polish territory.
Before being debunked, the claim prompted fears of an imminent clash between Russia and NATO, which is obliged to defend fellow member-states if they come under external attack.
Minsk has historically enjoyed close ties with Moscow. A Kremlin spokesman recently described Belarus as Russia’s “No. 1 ally.”
Since 1999, the two former Soviet republics have been bound by a “Union State” treaty, which aims to cement bilateral ties in the fields of defense and economy.
Since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, military cooperation between Russia and Belarus has gone into overdrive. Last fall, Russia sent troops and military hardware to Belarus under the aegis of the Union State treaty.
Moscow upped the ante earlier this year, unveiling plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. In June, Mr. Lukashenko said a number of Russian nuclear weapons had already arrived.
Eyes on Western Ukraine
On July 22, Boris Gryzlov, Moscow’s ambassador to Belarus, said Poland’s recent border deployments looked like preparations for “larger-scale aggressive actions.”One day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Poland of harboring territorial ambitions in both Belarus and Ukraine.
Warsaw, he claimed, sought to establish a NATO-backed “coalition” with which it hoped to occupy portions of western Ukraine under the guise of “peacekeepers.”
“If Polish units enter Lviv or other Ukrainian regions, they will remain there,” he said, noting that Poland had briefly occupied Lviv after World War I.
Mr. Putin’s remarks echoed earlier claims by Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.
Last year, Naryshkin alleged the existence of secret plans between Warsaw and Washington to ensure Poland’s “military and political control over its ‘historic territories’ in Ukraine.”
During a three-day visit to Russia last week, Mr. Lukashenko likewise referred to the notion of Ukraine’s “dismemberment” by Poland.
A U.S. State Department spokesman later dismissed the idea, saying: “There’s only one country in the region that has demonstrated ... the willingness to invade its neighbors, and that’s Russia, not Poland.”
Nevertheless, on Aug. 2, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that Polish ambitions in western Ukraine are now a “topic of mainstream discussion” in Poland.
“It’s not only fringe groups talking about this,” she told Russian media. “It’s no longer possible to pretend nobody knows what’s going on.”
Poland, for its part, has consistently denied having any designs on Ukrainian territory.
Such claims, according to Warsaw, are merely intended to “foster distrust between Ukraine and Poland.”
