The foreign ministry in Warsaw said in a statement that "unidentified uniformed individuals armed with long guns" crossed into Poland from Belarus earlier this week.
Łukasz Jasina, spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry, told reporters that the Belarusian chargé d'affaires, Alexander Chesnovsky, and Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk discussed the incident, which happened in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to the Polish foreign ministry's statement, Wawrzyk "forwarded an emphatic protest ... against the violation of the Polish state border, emphasising that the actions taken by the Belarusian authorities in recent weeks have the increasingly evident hallmarks of a deliberate escalation."
The statement added that Wawrzyk "pointed out that Poland deems such actions unacceptable and will not tolerate them."
Wawrzyk told Chesnovsky "that Poland is determined to defend its borders and the external borders of the European Union," while also saying "that Poland and the Euro-Atlantic community of democratic states will consistently stand opposed to illegal migration orchestrated by Minsk," according to the statement.
Wawrzyk "announced a note of protest" to the Belarusian foreign ministry and "urged the Belarusian side to explain the incident immediately," the Polish foreign ministry also said in its statement.
Piotr Wawrzyk. Photo: PR24/MS
Meanwhile, the head of Poland’s Border Guard has sent a letter to his Belarusian counterpart, requesting an explanation, the tvp.info website reported.
Polish security official Stanisław Żaryn, who is spokesman for the country’s security services chief, tweeted that “Lukashenko’s provocations are getting more dangerous."
"On Tuesday night Polish soldiers saw on the territory of Poland 3 uniformed people with long guns," Żaryn said in his tweet.
"When they met a Polish patrol, they reloaded their weapons and went away towards Belarus," he added.
The tvp.info website reported that the three armed men were encountered "some 200 metres" inside Polish territory, near the village of Białowieża, and wore unmarked uniforms.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, gov.pl, tvp.info