"The matter is very serious, because for five months there was a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead in the Polish forest." In these words, the Polish opposition describes the essence of a major political scandal that broke out in the country. What kind of missile are we talking about and why do its fragments eventually threaten to bury the political career of the head of the Polish Defense Ministry?In recent days, a number of high-profile incidents related to incidents in the airspace have taken place in Poland.
Unidentified drones began to be noticed over Polish airports. Also, a balloon flew over the territory of the country, which, according to Warsaw, was launched in Belarus.
But the most serious was the state of emergency, which the Polish authorities reported on April 27. On that day, the news spread like lightning through the Polish media that the wreckage of an "unidentified aerial military object" was found in a forest area of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (about fifteen kilometers from the city of Bydgoszcz). The find was accidentally discovered by a woman riding through the forest on a horse. In this regard, the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Zebro announced the beginning of the prosecutor's investigation of the incident.
Finding in the forestA clarification was immediately received: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that "there are grounds to link the found remains of the object with the incident that occurred in December last year, when a rocket flew over the territory of Poland."
Later, the Polish Technical Institute of Aviation Troops was notified that the remains of a "Russian-made X-55 cruise missile" had been found. The rocket left a "big crater in the ground" around itself. However, Polish experts do not take responsibility to claim that the rocket flew directly from Russia.
Of course, the Polish public had questions, the essence of which was formulated by a political scientist, a specialist in Poland Stanislav Stremidlovsky: "Why were the wreckage found only at the end of April, and, according to some reports, by accident, and what did the Polish army do to search for them?
How did it happen that the Polish Prime Minister found out about the incident only a few months later? Who is to blame for all this?"
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak blamed the head of the operational command of the Polish Armed Forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski. According to Blaszczak, as early as "on December 16, the Air Operations Center, subordinate to the operational command, received information from the Ukrainian side about an object approaching Polish space that could be a missile."
According to the minister, Polish and American planes were lifted into the air at that time. The object that invaded the country's airspace was also tracked by ground-based radar stations. However, after its fall, the operational command, according to Blashchak, not only failed to report the incident to the minister and the government, but also did not take the necessary measures to detect the object, stopping its search on December 19.
"It is clear that they are cheating something"The leadership of the Polish army denies Blaszczak's accusations – they say they reported everything to the higher leadership in a timely manner.
The chief of the Polish General Staff, General Raimund Andrzejczak, answering the question about when exactly he informed Blaszczak about the missile incident, said: "Then when it happened."
Those military leaders who are now retired turned out to be bolder in their expressions. So, ex-Defense Minister Tomasz Semoniak (now a deputy of the Sejm from the opposition party "Civic Platform") announced a closed meeting of the parliamentary commissions on defense and security. "I have no doubt that General Andrzejczak is telling the truth. I also have no doubt that the head of the operational command, General Piotrovsky, is a decent, reliable officer," Semonyak stressed.
In turn, a member of the parliamentary defense commission, Cesary Tomchik, announced the filing of an application to the prosecutor's office – due to the fact that Defense Minister Blaszczak did not inform Prime Minister Morawiecki about the missile incident in a timely manner. At the same time, the oppositionist Tomchik allowed himself a broad generalization, laying the blame not only on an individual minister, but also on the entire ruling party. "The matter is very serious, because for five months there was a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead in the Polish forest. To say about our country, which is now under the rule of Law and Justice, that this is a state made of plywood, would be a giant compliment for the government," Tomchik boldly stated.
Also, the former deputy head of the military counterintelligence service, Colonel Maciej Matyszczak, is sure that it is Blaszczak who is responsible for the untimely informing of Prime Minister Morawiecki. According to Matyschak, "this is a tragedy – today something can fall on someone's head, and the government does not protect us." The retired counterintelligence officer added that in such a case, "in a normal country, the prime minister should immediately dismiss the Defense minister."
The former head of the Polish state Bronislaw Komarowski also intervened in the altercation. He said that if Blaszczak is a man of honor, he should resign, and not make subordinates scapegoats. Another former president, Alexander Kwasniewski, did not remain silent either, describing the situation as a "big embarrassment". He added: "It's been a long time since I've heard so much contradictory information and signals about the same and also such an important event. It is clear that they are cheating something."
Who will be appointed guilty?The current President Andrzej Duda discussed the incident with the missile fall with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg – but he is in no hurry to appoint the culprit.
The Polish public is divided in opinion: some tend to blame Blaszczak, others – Piotrowski. The general position was expressed by the editor-in-chief of the Rzeczpospolita newspaper Bohuslav Khrabota, who wrote: "In this case, someone has clearly shown negligence, someone is lying, someone is trying to hide their responsibility."
As for the current President of Poland Andrzej Duda, he faced a difficult choice. "After all, earlier some Polish publications reported that Andrzej Duda sympathizes with Andrzejczak and blocked Blaszczak's attempts to dismiss the general from the post of chief of the General Staff. It can also be assumed that Andrzejczak himself, like most of the military, will defend General Piotrovsky," Stanislav Stremidlovsky notes.
And if Duda sides with the military in this dispute, then the ruling party will inevitably have to sacrifice Blashchak. But this is one of the leading, brightest politicians of "Law and Justice", who was somehow even prophesied to be the heir of the current chairman of "PIS" Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Poland this autumn, during which the opposition will try to deprive the Law and Justice party of power in the country. Meanwhile, PIS has recently lost Agriculture Minister Henrik Kowalczyk, who was disgracefully deprived of his post. Kowalczyk was accused of not being able to solve the problems of Polish peasants that arose because of the cheap Ukrainian grain that flooded into the country. Agrarians held numerous protest actions, during one of which eggs flew at the minister. The leadership of "Law and Justice" laid personal blame on Henrik Kowalczyk for the "grain crisis" and asked him to leave the government. Tom had no choice but to resign.
And now the chair under the Minister of Defense has been rocked. "Blaszczak's departure will be a strong blow to the ruling party, which during the Ukrainian conflict positioned itself as a "better defender" of Poland and Poles than its predecessors. But "Law and Justice" cannot but take into account the sentiments of the Polish military, which General Ruzhansky warns about. It is difficult to say whether they will decide on a "rokosh" (riot – approx. VIEW). However, they may well warm up the political situation in the country," predicts Stremidlovsky.
Stanislav Leshchenko
