This is the moment Polish officials say a drunk and armed Belarusian soldier on duty at the border asks their troops for cigarettes across a fence between their two countries.

The footage was released by the Polish Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Sunday 21st November and reportedly shows a Belarusian soldier saying to his Polish counterparts over the razor wire fence in broken English: “I give you Belarusian cigarettes Pall Mall and you give me Polish Pall Mall cigarettes.”

It is unclear why he wanted to swap the same brand of cigarettes with his Polish counterpart but some cigarettes do taste different depending on the tobacco harvest and modifications for the local market.

In the footage, which was shot at night, the Belarusian soldier can be seen swaying on his feet, spurring allegations that he was drunk.

The Polish MoD tweeted: “Drunk and armed Belarusians are on duty at the border.”

They added: “This is not the first such case that our soldiers have encountered.”

The border between Belarus and Poland has made international headlines of late due to accusations by the European Union that the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko – who is widely known as “Europe’s last dictator” – has been encouraging thousands of migrants to pass through his country unhindered.

In a recent interview with the BBC, President Lukashenko claimed that the migrants were not his problem because he said they wanted to reach Germany. He also acknowledged that he “may have helped” migrants reach the EU.