Polish fighter jets intercepted and escorted away a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying over international waters close to Poland’s airspace in the Baltic Sea on Christmas Eve, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces confirmed.
The military said the aircraft did not enter Polish airspace but prompted an air defence response despite the holiday period. On the same night, Polish radar systems also detected objects entering airspace from the direction of Belarus. After assessment, these were deemed most likely to be smuggling balloons drifting with the wind and were continuously monitored.
As a precaution, civilian air traffic was temporarily restricted over parts of the eastern Podlasie region. Authorities emphasised that no threat to the safety of Polish airspace had been identified.
The incident highlights ongoing tensions in the region. Poland, a NATO member bordering Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus, has repeatedly scrambled aircraft in response to Russian military activity. The suspected balloon incursions mirror a wider regional issue, with Lithuania recently arresting suspects involved in cigarette smuggling using GPS-tracked weather balloons, which have disrupted civilian aviation.