WARSAW: – Poland’s prime minister announced on Tuesday the re-establishment of a commission to look into undue Russian influence.
Poland has long said that its position as a key distribution hub for supplies to Ukraine makes it a major target for Moscow’s spies. The defection of a judge to Russian ally Belarus this month put Warsaw on high alert.
“I issued an order on the establishment of a commission to investigate Russian and Belarusian influence on the internal security and interests of the Republic of Poland in the years 2004-2024,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told journalists.
He named the head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, General Jaroslaw Strozyk, as head of the commission.
A Turnaround
Reviving the commission formed by the previous government marks a turnaround for Tusk. At the time, it was condemned by Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) grouping as a vehicle for a witch hunt against him.
Tusk said the commission would consist of 9-13 members. These members would be chosen from recommendations from officials including the interior, defence and foreign ministers.
Tusk told private broadcaster TVN24 hat Poland had arrested nine people for sabotage ordered by Russian services. These included “beatings, arson and attempted arson”.
Three more people had been arrested overnight, he said on Tuesday.
He praised Poland’s services for working really efficiently to address attempts at sabotage in Poland and neighboring countries. He mentioned Latvia and Lithuania as other countries affected.
Investigators were probing Russian involvement in a huge fire in a shopping centre in Warsaw this month, he added.
Conspiracy theories, Says Russia
The Russian embassy in Warsaw said that it would not comment on “various types of insinuations in the form of ‘conspiracy theories'”.
Earlier, Tusk announced that Poland would allocate an additional 100 million zlotys ($26 million) to its intelligence services due to the threat from Russia. .
Poland’s border with Belarus has been a flashpoint ever since migrants started flocking there in 2021. The EU accuses Belarus of gathering Middle Eastern migrants and sending them across the border illegally.
Recent weeks have seen an increase in migrants trying to cross. Tusk said most of them now had Russian visas.
“It is disturbing that the pressure on the eastern border is not spontaneous migration,” Tusk said. “Over 90% of those who cross the Polish border illegally are people with Russian visas.”
On Saturday, Tusk said Poland would invest 10 billion zlotys in a programme to secure the eastern border.
(REUTERS)
