German accusations about Poland’s involvement in blowing up Nord Stream should be treated as an attack on Poland. But can Prime Minister Tusk afford to

Countries that have no complexes and are convinced of their own strength never give explanations, even when they make stupid accusations. Instead, you should attack.

Before August Hanning, head of the German Civil Intelligence Service (BND) in 1998-2005, accused Presidents Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelensky of conspiracy and patronizing the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipelines on August 15, 2024, the assassination scenarios had been spread by the German media (for example, television and radio stations of the public media group ARD, “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Die Zeit”) and American (“Wall Street Journal”). And all this happened around August 15, the anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw, when the Poles drove out the Bolsheviks and the new Bolsheviks are threatening us again.

In Poland, bizarre and distorted speculation about the attack was voiced by former President Bronisław Komorowski, concerned about the consequences. Komorowski did not do what Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski did, who called the accusations a lie and practically told the accusers to persecute each other. It so happens that countries that have no complexes and are convinced of their own strength never explain themselves, even when making stupid accusations. Poland should not do this either. And after the case was unanimously taken up by the media in Germany and Russia in a strongly anti-Polish spirit, the Polish authorities should not only send the accusers “to the tree”, but even bring charges against them. And if the German authorities expressed themselves in the spirit of accusations in the media, the Polish government should make a big fuss about it. But who would do that if Prime Minister Donald Tusk never dared to put a finger in his left shoe towards Germany? Deputy Prime Minister Gawkowski behaved decently, but this was not the official position of the government.

In Germany, the media implement the government’s policy on important issues, mainly because it is very profitable for them, also financially. Only an extremely naive person could believe that the accusations against Poland, which have been spread in the media and shamelessly summarized by August Hanning, do not have the approval or perhaps even the inspiration of Chancellor Olaf Scholz or his office. When such quarrels break out, it is worth keeping an eye on the Chancellor’s office and keeping a great distance from official statements from the German side.

The facts are that prosecutors in Denmark and Sweden (there were explosions in their territorial waters) stopped the investigation into the blowing up of the pipe because the perpetrators could not be found. The public prosecutor in Germany, however, is fighting bravely. And everything indicates that he accuses Ukrainian divers of the perpetrators. Somewhere on the island of Rügen or in Rostock (in the former GDR) they would rent a small yacht of the Bavaria Cruiser 50 Andromeda. Through a company registered in Warsaw by Ukrainian women. And these divers allegedly managed to blow up the pipes at a depth of 70-90 m, inaccessible to non-professionals. The German prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for Volodymyr Z., who is said to have participated in the action. In addition to the couple Svitlana and Yevheniya U., the yacht would stop in Rügen, Bornholm and Christianso in Denmark, in Sandhamn in Sweden and in Kołobrzeg, Poland. The suspects of the Germans are diving instructors from the Scuba Family school in Kiev. Volodymyr Z. apparently lived in Pruszków near Warsaw. Svitlana U. is also said to settle in Poland with her children.

The German media reported that Volodymyr Z. was not being held in Poland because the Polish authorities were helping him. Both Svitlana U. and Volodymyr Z. denied having anything to do with the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. The woman announced that she would sue the German media for damages. At the time, there was speculation that the attack was organized by the Russians, but under a “foreign flag”.

The scenario presented in the Wall Street Journal on August 15, 2024 is even more fantastic than the one in the German media. Sometime in 2022, President Zelensky was drinking with important military officials and some businessmen, and then it was decided to blow things up. pipes. The participants in the action were probably assisted by a front company that was set up by Ukrainian intelligence in Warsaw a decade ago. The attack plan was leaked to some NATO intelligence services in order to prevent the Ukrainian president from carrying it out. However, the machine could not be stopped due to permanent problems in communication with the group of saboteurs.

After the media terrain was prepared, August Hanning, the former head of the BND, took action. And he speculated how “Polish special services joined the Ukrainians.” And since “such decisions are taken at the highest political level,” Hanning has no doubt that “there was an agreement between President Zelensky and President Duda.” On this basis, “Ukrainian and Polish military personnel” came into action. And if so, we have been dealing with an “act of state terrorism.” And then it was great, there is no hell for the soul, i.e. the statement that since “the losses amount to 20 to 30 billion euros and enormous damage has been caused, the German government must make it clear that it will demand coverage of the losses.” By the authorities of Ukraine and Poland. A nice twist in the context of Poland (in particular the government of Mateusz Morawiecki) demanding reparations from Germany.

Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US and former deputy defense minister, also felt called to the board, stating that since “it is a matter of secretly legitimizing terrorism, even on the territory of allies,” “America gives carte blanche for such crimes in the country in the future.” Germany and Russia are two sides of the same coin, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone.

August Hanning is an extremely slimy character, but more about that later. Just like the person who appointed him head of the BND in 1998, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. During his term of office (1998-2005), Schröder pursued a pro-Russian and anti-American policy. He remained a friend of Vladimir Putin, even when the genocide in Ukraine came to light. “Schröder’s attitude after the end of his political career was very surprising; above all his unwavering, one might even say stubborn and dangerous loyalty to the Russian ruler and leader Vladimir Putin,” wrote Mona Jaeger in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The SPD wanted to break with Schröder, but the attempt to expel him from the party ended in failure. “No politician of this stature has ever sunk so low,” Jaeger said.

Schröder discovered a ‘spiritual brother’ in Putin, since both come from a low social background. They both had to ‘bite their way up without scruples’. Schröder celebrated his 70th birthday with Putin in St. Petersburg, shortly after the annexation of Crimea. And for his 60th birthday, Putin came to the birthday boy in Hannover with a Cossack choir. In his last weeks as Chancellor, Schröder signed an agreement with Russia for the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, bypassing Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states.

After leaving the chancellorship, Schröder became chairman of the board of the Russian-German consortium North European Gas Pipeline Company (NEGPC), which built the Northern Gas Pipeline. He later worked for many years as a manager and lobbyist in the Russian energy sector. After the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the revelation of Russian crimes against Ukrainian citizens, he did not condemn Putin. In the years 2017–2022, he was head of the board of the Russian company Rosneft.

August Hanning followed in the footsteps of his boss and mentor, although he did not go as far as he did. On September 29, 2023, the former head of the BND was covered by the German weekly “Der Spiegel”. Journalists discovered that on February 6, 2022, August Hanning wrote a desperate letter to the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He begged for help because Scholz was to meet with the Prime Minister of Latvia. And it was in Latvia that Hanning got into trouble. As a member of the supervisory board of PNB Banka (formerly Norvik Banka), he earned a meager PLN 12,000. euros per month, i.e. “on cotton swabs”.

Things will become clearer if we add that the bank’s majority shareholder was a Russian, Grigory Guselnikov, who also had British nationality. In 2019, the European Central Bank declared that PNB Banka could go bankrupt, so the Latvian regulator took control. And the trustee has asked shareholders and the board of directors and supervisory boards, including Hanning, for compensation. 2/3 of his pension was taken away. The bank of the Russian Guselnikov, where Hanning found refuge, was accused of money laundering, probably also the funds of his buddy, the Russian oligarch Pyotr Kondrashov, with whom Guselnikov later had a falling out. The bank was also accused of circumventing sanctions against North Korea.

As Spiegel journalists discovered: “Hanning jumped from one job to another and had no qualms about doing business with suspicious people and companies.” He did shady business through System 360 AG and Pluteos AG. For example, in 2019 he took part in the takeover by the United Arab Emirates Air Force of a Challenger 650 aircraft, a twin-engine jet from the Canadian company Bombardier, which was equipped with espionage technologies at the time. When Hanning appeared at the Munich Security Conference, he was treated as persona non grata. All this does not prevent August Hanning from being a useful tool for the government of Chancellor Scholz and from making accusations against Poland and the Polish President. These accusations (also from the media, including the German public media) in Warsaw must be treated as an attack on Poland and require an adequate, sharp response from the Polish government. You only need courage for this and you cannot be a servant of Germany.