WARSAW—Poland announced on Tuesday that it will send troops to its eastern border after accusing Belarus, Russia's closest ally, of breaching its airspace with military helicopters.
Belarus' military denied any such breach and accused NATO member Poland, one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters in its fight with Russia, of fabricating the charge to justify a force increase.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko had previously mocked Poland over the deployment of Russian Wagner mercenaries along their shared border.
Poland's Defense Ministry stated it was deploying "additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters," and that the border infringement had been reported to NATO, and that Belarus' charge d'affaires had been asked to explain.
After first denying any border breach, the Polish military later said the infiltration occurred "at a very low height, difficult to intercept by radar."
According to a Telegram message from Belarus' defense ministry, Warsaw changed its mind on the event "apparently after consulting its overseas masters."
“This statement was not backed up by data from Poland,” it said. “The Belarusian Defence Ministry views it in the manner of an ‘old wives’ tale’ and notes there were no border violations by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters.”
Last week, Mr. Putin accused Poland of harboring territorial ambitions toward Belarus and stated that any attack on its neighbor would be considered an attack on itself.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Lukashenko told Poland that it should thank him for keeping Wagner mercenaries in control amid a failed coup against Russian military officials last month.
Unknown numbers of Wagner fighters have subsequently relocated to Belarus and began training Mr. Lukashenko's troops. Poland has already begun to move around 1,000 troops closer to the border.
State news agency Belta quoted Mr. Lukashenko on Tuesday as saying that the Poles “should pray that we’re holding onto (the Wagner fighters) and providing for them. Otherwise, without us, they would have seeped through and smashed up Rzeszow and Warsaw in no small way. So they shouldn’t reproach me, they should say thank you.”
Rzeszow is a city on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday that a group of 100 Wagner fighters had moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno on the Polish border, calling the situation "increasingly dangerous."
