Anti-government activists of Belarusian have claimed responsibility for what they said was a drone attack on a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft at an airfield near the Belarus capital of Minsk on Sunday.
“Those were drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusian,” Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organisation BYPOL, was quoted as saying on the organisation’s Telegram messaging app and on the Poland-based Belsat news channel, reports Reuters.
However, there was no official confirmation from Russia or Belarus and there was no immediate response from their defence ministries to requests for comment.
The Beriev A-50 aircraft, which has the Nato reporting name of Mainstay, is a Russian airborne early warning aircraft, with airborne command and control capabilities, and the ability to track up to 60 targets at a time.
