More than half of Poles believe that the Verification Commission for investigating Russian influence should continue to function, and that political leaders should appear before it in the future – according to a survey by United Surveys for Wirtualna Polska. Meanwhile, the report on the commission’s work that was rejected on November 29 was removed from the government’s website, as noted by Wojciech Czuchnowski in “Gazeta Wyborcza”, arguing that the document was “intended to attack Tusk “.
Verification Committee for Investigation of Russian Influence
When Grzegorz Rzeczkowski revealed in October 2022 in ‘Newsweek’ the testimony of Marcin W., a witness in the case of the so-called After the 2014 wiretapping scandal, the then opposition used it to attack the PiS government and was intended to gain credibility to insinuations that Russia helped Jarosław Kaczyński’s party come to power. KO and left-wing politicians eagerly demanded an investigation into Russian influence on Polish politics, but changed their minds when the then parliamentary majority came up with such an initiative. They refused to name their representatives and called the verification committee “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” Just over a month after the parliamentary elections, the Sejm decided to dismiss the entire committee. A record of her activities has been preserved – until recently available on the website of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.
The report, which the chairman of the committee, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, called “partial”, was published on the afternoon of November 29 on the website of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery. On that day, the committee, which included only PiS nominees, organized a press conference that was broadcast exclusively by TVP Info. Cenckiewicz, General Andrzej Kowalski and Andrzej Zybertowicz, security advisor to President Andrzej Duda, who took part, announced that Donald Tusk, Tomasz Siemoniak, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Bogdan Klich and Jacek Cichocki are people who should not be entrusted with public functions. with responsibility for state security
– writes Wojciech Czuchnowski in “Gazeta Wyborcza”.
Are you sure it was Afghanistan?
According to the journalist, the report was intended to attack the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
PiS hoped that the committee’s negative opinion would block the president’s swearing-in of Tusk’s government. However, this did not happen and Andrzej Duda did not take the committee’s advice into account
– suggests Czuchnowski, which is completely untrue. The President acted only in accordance with the Constitution, i.e. – because the current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki failed to obtain a vote of confidence in the Sejm, he decided to swear in the candidate appointed by the lower house, namely Donald Tusk.
One of the GW journalist’s allegations against the report was the use of the term “partially” by the previous government and committee members, while “it was hanging as a ‘report’ on the website of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery.” .” Well, perhaps because it is difficult to imagine preparing a full report on the work for the years 2007-2022 in two months and the commission would simply publish the results of the work it has done until the current composition was rejected?
The appendices included declassified documents from the Military Counterintelligence Service. They were intended to prove that the PO-PSL government led by Tusk tolerated illegal contacts between the SKW and the Russian FSB in 2007-2015. In fact, these were standard contracts relating, for example, to the safety of Polish soldiers returning from Afghanistan via Russia. The final cooperation agreement was not signed because Russia occupied Crimea in 2014
– argues Wojciech Czuchnowski.
Last week, Arkadiusz Puławski, a former member of the committee, rejected the story that the contacts related to the return of Polish soldiers from Afghanistan via Russia.
Then why were there two-day meetings with the top of the FSB in the Kaliningrad region? After all, the possible route for the return of Polish troops to Poland did not pass through the Königsberg Oblast at all, nor is the Königsberg Oblast FSB responsible for this strategic direction.
– he noted on December 7 in the program “Jedziemy” on TVP Info.
Puławski also pointed out that the story about the contacts regarding Afghanistan came from Russia.
READ ALSO: Behind the scenes of the meeting shown in “Reset”. FSB and SKW talked about Afghanistan? Former committee member: ‘Entering the information path of the Russians’
Poles want further work from the committee
At the end of the text in “GW”, Czuchnowski informs that the report with attachments has disappeared from the website of the Prime Minister’s Office, as has the page with information about the activities of the commission. The journalist emphasizes that the Prime Minister’s Chancellery is conducting an audit of its activities and costs.
This will reveal, among other things, how much money was spent on rewards, which documents the committee retrieved from the archives of the secret services and whether there was any illegal copying of these materials.
– emphasizes Czuchnowski.
52.8 percent respondents believe that the Committee for Investigating Russian Influence in Poland should continue to work in a new composition, and that in the future political leaders, including PiS President Jarosław Kaczyński and PO leader Donald Tusk, will work for it should appear – according to a survey by United Surveys for Wirtualna Polska.
READ ALSO: What do Tusk and his supporters say about this? Most Poles want further work from the committee investigating Russian influence in Poland
Perhaps it would be worthwhile – instead of covering up the traces of the commission’s activities – if the new government listens to the voice of the Poles, and if the new parliamentary majority ensures that the commission’s work can be continued by appointing its new composition? After all, it would give Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s team the opportunity to lend credibility to accusations in recent months that the PiS government came to power thanks to Putin’s help. Or perhaps he does not want to make them credible or is he showing by his dealings with the committee that it is simply impossible to make these suggestions credible?
yes/GW
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.