The former head of the Ministry of National Defense Tomasz Siemoniak referred in Polsat News to the fact that 629 military units were liquidated during the PO-PSL rule. “After the decisions in 2009, many units – not only in the east, in the whole of Poland – had to be merged, liquidated, it is a normal process,” explains Siemoniak. “At the time it was considered a normal process and that is how those governments operated. They believed there was no threat from Russia. Donald Tusk hugged Vladimir Putin,” says the former head of the Ministry of National Defense in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal, Michał Jach, PiS MP, chairman of the parliamentary National Defense Commission.
When we said during the PO-PSL rule that there is a threat to Poland and that Putin has not changed his views or goals and that he is still dangerous, we were not only called “Russophobes” in the West, but also against the then ruling coalition. It was clear to us that Russia was not only not abandoning Great Russia’s policy of imperial reconstruction, but was preparing intensively for it.
– underlined Michael Jach.
Around the turn of the year in 2013 and 2014, President Komorowski signed the White Paper on the National Security of the Republic of Poland, which repeatedly emphasized that Poland will not be threatened by Russia in the foreseeable future. This was a few months before Putin’s first invasion of Ukraine. I wonder to what extent this was a quasi-specialist occupation, and to what extent it was the stupidity of these politicians
he adds.
The situation in the army during the rule of the PO-PSL coalition
The interlocutor of the wPolityce.pl portal presents the state of the Polish army during the rule of the PO-PSL coalition.
No significant contract has been signed for the purchase of modern weapons for eight years. The Ministry of National Defense has not spent the full amount of the budget of the Ministry of National Defense in any of those years. During these 8 years, PLN 12 billion was saved, which cost us 48 F-16 aircraft. The number of armies was systematically decreasing, there was no policy for the promotion of the armed forces, on the contrary – certain financial solutions led to the fact that the commanders of the units were interested in fewer soldiers. It so happened that if the commander had a vacancy, he received money for the unit and could distribute it for bonuses for other soldiers. Therefore, the commander was not interested in recruiting more soldiers, and salaries in the army were the lowest of any uniformed service at the time, resulting in the outflow of soldiers into both civilian and other uniformed services. Units were also closed, mainly in eastern Poland. These actions were thoughtless or ill-intentioned
says the PiS MP.
Michał Jach answers the question of whether he believes that if the PO-PSL coalition ruled Poland at the time of Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine, then immediate support from Poland to Ukraine can be expected.
These people were and are incapable of making quick and bold decisions. Of few things I am more certain than that if PO were in power now, Ukraine would no longer exist. What Polish diplomacy did a year before the Russian aggression, and what it did at the beginning of the war – and what it still does – without this support, a free Ukraine would no longer exist, it would have been developed by the Russians. The most important thing for Ukraine was that Poland incredibly mobilized international public opinion in support of Ukraine and managed with its actions, together with Ukraine, to keep the issue of the war in Ukraine from the headlines.
– emphasizes Michał Jach.
Note ace
READ ALSO: They liquidated 629 military units! Siemoniak’s absurd explanation: The army has become professional. It’s a natural process
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.