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Refugee crisis in Europe

Minsk denies Warsaw’s allegations pneumatic weapons were used against border lights

The Border Guard explained that at the border section in question the distance from the borderline to the Polish lighting masts is too great for an accurate enough shot with a pneumatic weapon

MINSK, December 1. /TASS/. The Belarusian Border Guard has slammed as a provocation the Polish Defense Ministry’s allegations that Polish border lights were attacked with pneumatic weapons from Belarusian territory.

"The post uploaded to the Polish Defense Ministry’s page on Twitter on December 1 is nothing but a provocation. Apparently, the Polish side does not like the relative calm and it is out to trigger a further escalation of tensions on the border," the Belarusian Border Guard said in its Telegram channel.

The Border Guard explained that at the border section in question the distance from the borderline to the Polish lighting masts is too great for an accurate enough shot with a pneumatic weapon.

Such an attempt would be senseless and the chances of damaging the lights from the territory of Belarus are zero, the Border Guard said, adding that all of its patrols carried only combat weapons while on duty.

Minsk said that lately both Polish services and officials "ever more often came out with such provocative statements having nothing to do with reality" and all of their accusations against the Belarusian side were products of their imagination.

"As a rule, after making such charges the Polish side at once forgets about them without taking the trouble of presenting any proof," the Belarusian Border Guard said. It is certain that "Poland intentionally spreads fake news in order to conceal from the public the real picture of events on the border and to excuse its unlawful actions."

The Polish Defense Ministry earlier said that lighting masts on the border with Belarus had been shot at. The ministry declared its intention to summon the Belarusian military attache over the incident.

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