Military escalation continues on the Belarusian-Polish border. The Belarusian government has ordered to reinforce its air defense in the western part of the country due to the crisis that has unleashed with Poland.
The Ministry of Defense has confirmed the information and has indicated in a statement released through Telegram that the air forces have increased along the state border, ” both in the west and in the northwest .”
Thus, starting this Wednesday, the flights made jointly with Russia at the border will be modified. “If before these strategic bombing aviation flights had a cyclical nature, from now on they will be carried out on a regular basis,” the text states, stating that they are “response measures to the emerging situation both in the air and on earth”.
Shortly before, the Belarusian authorities had expressed concern about the mobilization of the NATO bloc near the western borders of the country. In addition, they have pointed out that there has been a significant increase in combat and reconnaissance flights by third countries in front of their borders.
This same Wednesday, Minsk has refused to attend the Vienna conference on the situation in Belarus, which it considers “hostile” towards the country. “The conference, as conceived by its organizers, is an absolutely useless and pointless idea. In addition, we consider it as an absolutely hostile step towards Belarus, “said the country’s Foreign Minister, Vladimir Makei .
The Belarusian head of diplomacy has confirmed that they will not participate despite having raised the issue with Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg , who proposed to convene the event.
“It is about some kind of restoration or reconstruction of Belarus, as if Belarus were a country in ruins and with the economy completely destroyed. The situation is different, ”Makei assured, adding that despite the sanctions, the State functions normally.
Last April, Schallenberg himself indicated as Foreign Minister that the country was willing to mediate between the Government and the Belarusian opposition. Months later, the opposition Svetlana Tijanovskaya requested the holding of the conference, which has now been called for November 22.
Russia sees sanctions unacceptable
The Russian Government, for its part, has described as unacceptable the attempts by the European Union to “use the migration crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus to expand the sanctions that already weigh on Minsk.”
The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajarova, stressed during a press conference that it is “unacceptable to turn these migration problems into a pretext to present new sanctions.”
Moscow has used the occasion to also denounce a “drastic” increase in recognized flights by NATO in the Black Sea. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry has clarified that during the last 24 hours the number of flights of this type in the area has increased with significant “intensity”.
“In the last 24 hours, the reconnaissance aviation of NATO countries has considerably increased the intensity of flights near the borders of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea area,” the text states.
