Michał Zieliński/PAP

The Polish Border Guard has asked for explanations from its Belarusian counterpart regarding a border incident involving a Belarusian soldier.

On Monday afternoon, an armed man wearing a military uniform and a balaclava crossed the Polish border near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne and tried to cut the fence with a saw. After his attempt was recorded by monitoring systems, a Polish patrol was sent to the scene but the man managed to flee into Belarus.

Anna Michalska, a spokeswoman for the Polish Border Guard, told PAP on Wednesday that the Podlaskie Border Guard commander on Tuesday had sent a letter to his counterpart in the Brest branch of the Belarusian border service, asking for explanations regarding the actions of the Belarusian soldier on the border with Poland.

Poland and two other EU members, Latvia and Lithuania, have complained for the past couple years about migration pressure from Belarus, claiming the Belarusian border guard officers have been helping migrants, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, to cross the borders into the EU.