Poland scrambled fighter jets to intercept and escort a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near its airspace over the Baltic Sea, the Polish army said on Thursday.
The incident came as Polish authorities also reported that several dozen objects entered the country's airspace overnight from neighbouring Belarus. Four of the objects identified so far were believed to be smuggling balloons, according to Poland's National Security Bureau.
Deliberate provocation disguised as smuggling activity?
Officials warned that the scale of the incursions, their timing during the Christmas holiday period, and similar recent incidents in Lithuania could indicate a deliberate provocation disguised as smuggling activity.
NATO countries on the alliance's eastern flank have been on heightened alert since September, when Russian military aircraft violated Estonian airspace, and after repeated drone and balloon incursions linked to Belarus.
Part of the airspace over Poland's northeastern Podlaskie region was temporarily closed to civilian traffic as a precaution. Belarus has previously denied responsibility for sending smuggling balloons, which Lithuania has described as a form of "hybrid attack."
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