Polish jets intercept Russian recon plane near border
Polish fighter jets intercepted and escorted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near the country’s border over the Baltic Sea, the Polish Armed Forces said Thursday. The aircraft did not pose an immediate security threat.
The incident came just hours after Poland tracked unknown objects from Belarus, believed to be smuggling balloons, prompting a temporary closure of civilian airspace in the northeast. “After analysis, these were most likely smuggling balloons moving with the wind,” the Operational Command said, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz thanked nearly 20,000 soldiers monitoring security during the holidays, saying all provocations were under full control.
Smuggler balloons from Belarus have previously disrupted air traffic in Lithuania, which called them a “hybrid attack” by Belarus. Poland has also faced incursions from Russian drones earlier this year, leading to heightened alert in its airspace and emergency UN Security Council sessions.
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