Last Updated: February 27, 2023, 13:28 IST
South African Airforce jets flying in formation on Armed Forces Day forward of scheduled naval workouts with Russian and Chinese navies in Richards Bay, South Africa, February 21, 2023. (File/Reuters)
There was no official affirmation from Russia or Belarus and there was no fast response from their defence ministries to requests for remark
Belarusian anti-government activists have claimed accountability for what they stated was a drone assault on a Russian A-50 surveillance plane at an airfield close to the Belarus capital of Minsk on Sunday.
”Those had been drones. The contributors of the operation are Belarusian,” Aliaksandr Azarov, chief of Belarusian anti-government group BYPOL, was quoted as saying on the organisation’s Telegram messaging app and on the Poland-based Belsat news channel.
”They are actually protected, outdoors the nation.”
Reuters was not capable of independently confirm the report of the assault. There was no official affirmation from Russia or Belarus and there was no fast response from their defence ministries to requests for remark.
Belsat is a Polish broadcaster targeted on Belarusian news that Minsk has branded extremist. BYPOL, which incorporates former legislation enforcement officers who help opposition politicians, has been branded a terrorist group.
Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stated in a publish on Twitter it was essentially the most profitable act of sabotage for the reason that starting of 2022.
Front and central components of the plane in addition to the radar antenna had been broken because of two explosions within the assault on the Machulishchy air base close to Minsk, BYPOL reported.
The Beriev A-50 plane, which has the NATO reporting identify of Mainstay, is a Russian airborne early warning plane, with airborne command and management capabilities, and the power to trace as much as 60 targets at a time.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a yr in the past, there have been a number of acts of sabotage in Belarus and in Russian areas bordering Ukraine, particularly on the railway system.
President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has not taken a direct half in Russia’s warfare on Ukraine, however he allowed its forces entry to make use of territory as a staging publish at the start of the invasion a yr in the past.
Russia and Belarus have arrange a joint navy unit in Belarus and have held quite a few workouts. Plenty of Russian warplanes and airborne early warning and management plane have been deployed to Belarus.
”I’m happy with all Belarusians who proceed to withstand the Russian hybrid occupation of Belarus & battle for the liberty of Ukraine,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter.
The Belarusian human rights group Vyasna stated on Monday {that a} lady was detained in Machulishchy however the purpose and her whereabouts weren’t recognized.
There was no info on whether or not the detention was associated to the alleged sabotage of the plane.
Detentions are widespread in Belarus, for offences as small as feedback on social media, particularly after Lukashenko crushed the mass-pro democracy protests in 2020 and jailed all main opposition figures or pressured them to flee overseas.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated news company feed)
Source: www.news18.com
