A Russian surveillance A-50 plane was allegedly blown up in a drone attack in Belarus on Sunday, according to the Belarusian opposition.
The attack on the plane was allegedly conducted by partisans, which was damaged and “will not be flying any time soon.”
“They were drones (that carried out the attack). The participants of the operation are Belarusians,” Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organization BYPOL, was quoted as saying on Sunday on the organization’s Telegram and on the Polish Belsat news channel.
Locals near the airport said they saw intense military activity following the explosions and that searches have been conducted of houses in the vicinity of the airport.
The Belarusian defense ministry has not made any official comment on the incident. A ministry official made light of the reports, saying that nothing “terrible” had happened and that the larger numbers of troops in the area were merely engaged in a training exercise.
However, according to The Moscow Times, the Belarusian authorities have introduced “total controls” on the country’s border with Poland in Brest-Terespol. Witnesses have reported that Belarusian border guards have been searching all luggage and that the controls now involve plainclothes police as well as customs officers.
People crossing the border have also had to answer questions about where they are coming from, where they are going, and who they work for.
At Minsk Airport, security procedures for passengers were taking five hours rather than the usual 30 minutes.
