A senior Belarusian official today dismissed as false a claim that anti-government activists downed a Russian intelligence-gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance and command aircraft in a weekend drone attack on an airport outside the Belarusian capital Minsk.

Alexander Azarov, leader of the Belarusian anti-government organization BYROL, reportedly said on Sunday that Belarusian “partisans” used drones to carry out the attack on the Russian plane. Beriev A-50.

So far he has not provided evidence to support his claims.

“Given the absence of an official reaction, I am deeply convinced that this is another false claim that was intended to highlight some gaps in our national security,” Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuriy Abrazevich told Reuters today on the sidelines of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Belarus has allowed Russia to use its territory to launch attacks in Ukraine, but has avoided getting directly involved in the war.

The A-50 airplane is branded Mainstay on NATO and is an aerial warning plane with command and control capabilities and the ability to track up to 60 targets at a time.

British military intelligence said today that who was responsible for the attack and the damage it caused to the plane has not been officially confirmed.

“However the loss of an A-50 Mainstay would be significant as it is critical to Russian air operations in providing aerial imagery of combat areas,” it said.

“This will likely leave six operational A-50s, further limiting Russian air operations.”

Azarov, who was contacted by Reuters by phone on Monday, said that the operation, which he implied caused serious damage to the Russian plane, required several months of preparation and that the “partisans” would try to carry out other such actions in the future. .

BYROL, his organization, includes former law enforcement officers who support opposition politicians. It is considered a terrorist organization by Minsk.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the attack claims.