MINSK, November 26. /TASS/. Poland and the Baltic states continue to take steps to further raise tensions on the border with Belarus, Head of the Belarusian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate for Ideology Work Major General Leonid Kasinsky said in a statement on Friday.
"We continue thoroughly assessing the situation on our borders in light of military activities by Poland and the Baltic states," the statement reads.
According to Kasinsky, "we see no positive steps in this regard on behalf of our neighbors." "Apart from the previously announced unfriendly move to deploy troops and infrastructure, which make it possible to promptly ensure a military build-up and create groups of forces, we can also see that our neighbors are taking further actions aimed at escalating tensions," the Belarusian defense ministry official noted.
He highlighted preparations for the deployment of foreign troops to the Polish-Belarusian border. In this regard, Kasinksy mentioned Estonian troops, particularly tasked with establishing lateral communication routes. "It’s unclear what the migration crisis has to do with these engineering works. Speaking in military terms, these activities are part of advance preparations for fighting and their goal is to ensure the speedy deployment of troops along the Belarusian border," the Defense Ministry official explained. He also pointed to military activities on the Lithuanian side of the border, where about 4,000 troops were deployed.
Kasinsky also said that the flights of US strategic reconnaissance and electronic intelligence aircraft and scout attack drones were recorded in the past week. "All aircraft came as close as 20 to 35 kilometers to the border," he noted.