The secret plan drawn up in Poland in case of an "attack from Russia" was given to the enemy not by anyone, but by the country's defense minister himself. At least, Polish counterintelligence makes such accusations against Mariusz Blaszczak. How exactly did this happen and how serious is the leak of classified information?
The Polish military Counterintelligence Service has notified the prosecutor's office of suspicion of committing a crime against ex-Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. He is charged with making public part of the secret action plan of the Polish armed forces in case of an "attack from Russia." "The revealed violations in the sphere of improper handling of classified information and actions to the detriment of the interests of protecting classified information constitute crimes provided for in chapters XXXIII and XXIX of the Criminal Code," the counterintelligence said in a statement.
Now Blashchak is a deputy of the Sejm from the Law and Justice Party (PiS). He is not a military man, but a typical European politician who started as a municipal deputy in his native northern Warsaw suburb of Legionovo and eventually became Lech Kaczynski's right-hand man in the PiS party. According to the results of the last elections to the Seimas, the PiS party turned into an opposition one. And Donald Tusk's supporters began an active hunt for their rivals, especially those who annoyed them personally or too loudly.
The other day, at the request of the representative of the former operational commander of the Armed Forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski, the Sejm lifted parliamentary immunity from Blaszczak, after which the news arose about the initiation of an investigation against him by military counterintelligence. The most offended by Blaszczak are now considered to be Polish generals, whom, while holding the post of head of the Ministry of Defense, he accused of cowardice and incompetence.
The essence of the matter is that last year, then-Minister Blaszczak, during the election campaign to the Sejm, in a campaign video of the PiS party, unveiled the Warta plan, developed at the General Staff of the Polish Army. Blaszczak, as Minister of Defense, declassified this plan by his own order, just in order to use it in election campaign materials. To what extent he had the right to do so and the investigation should establish.
Sensational in this regard was his main strategic idea. In the event of a hypothetical attack by Russia and Belarus on Poland, the Polish army had to retreat to the defensive line of the Vistula River along the line of fortified areas (bridgeheads) Grudzendz – Torun – Bydgoszcz and Otwock – Garwolin – Ryki. It was supposed to hold the defense there for 10-14 days, waiting for help from other NATO countries. And if help from NATO does not come or something goes wrong? There was no answer to this question in the declassified plan.
Thus, the General Staff of the Polish Army proposed in advance and without a fight to surrender the eastern half of Poland's territory to Warsaw, withdraw and cling to a natural barrier – the Vistula River.
By origin, this plan is a reflection on as early as 1939, when the Polish army, contrary to proposals from Paris and London, took the fight to the advancing Germans right on the border. And it was quickly defeated.
After the end of World War II, military theorists, primarily Anglo-Saxon ones, declared that this plan was erroneous. From their point of view, the plan of withdrawal from the border and defense along the Vistula River (only from the other side) and around the fortified industrial areas of Warsaw – Modlin and Krakow –Katowice looked more promising for defense. This could give time for Britain and France to deploy troops in time. A few years ago, the Polish General Staff transferred this idea to modern conditions, changing the west to the east.
The publication of the details of this plan, primarily geographical, angered a number of retired Polish generals. In their opinion, the publication of the plan gives unnecessary information to Russian military intelligence. However, then domestic political considerations arose.
The fact is that the Wart plan provided for the surrender of the eastern territories of Poland, whose population is considered very conservative, with traditional, Catholic and rural thinking. The Polish equivalent of Rednecks, if such a comparison is appropriate. The population of these territories is precisely the nuclear electorate of the PiS party. The urbanized and westernized western part of the country with Warsaw, which the Warta plan was supposed to defend, votes for Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party.
The message of Mariusz Blaszczak's election video was addressed precisely to this electorate of the PiS party. Liberals and pro–Europeans from Donald Tusk's party are ready to sacrifice you – "real Poles" - and are not going to protect you at the strategic level. The Warta plan, developed in 2011 during Tusk's cadence, in this context represented himself and the Civic Platform party as something like national traitors.
From the point of view of electoral dynamics, the move was successful, although Tusk's party still won at the expense of Warsaw and other major cities in the west of the country. But in the end, Blaszczak's act radically undermined Poland's credibility within NATO.
Not all NATO member countries have such "national defense" plans at the headquarters level, but those who have them must coordinate them with the NATO command.
Or at least they exchange ideas about them. And now both NATO and the Polish military community have asked the question: how is it that in Warsaw, for the sake of an election campaign, it is possible to publish a strategic plan agreed with NATO? And what other pan-European or NATO secrets can Polish politicians make public?
No intelligence is needed here, the Poles are coping on their own. The former mayor of a sleepy Warsaw suburb is not the most obvious candidate for the post of defense minister of a major country in Europe. But this is how the parliamentary system works not only in Poland, when an internal party career elevates individuals to government posts who are clearly not suitable for them.
Another conversation is that Tusk and his team actively began to clean up their political opponents, including those who were or are in the army and special services. In this context, we can wish the Poles an intensification of the political struggle. It is possible that many more documents of interest to Russian military intelligence will be found in her process.
Evgeny Krutikov
