The announcement of the discovery of a “probably Russian” missile on Polish territory sparked a political storm in Warsaw, with the opposition chanting “scandal” and the defense minister seeking to resign.
At the end of April, the remains of a “military air object” – a Russian KH-55 cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which had fallen in December, according to the Polish press – were found by a passerby in the forest near Bydgoszcz, in the north of the country, some 500 kilometers from the eastern border of this NATO member state.
The populist-nationalist government, which has so far been silent on the issue, made its first comment this Friday.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak accused the commander of the operational forces of neglecting search operations for the remains of the missile and not informing anyone about the incident. But Blaszczak did not fire or suspend him.
He added that the Polish military and their American counterparts present in Poland had accompanied the flight of the device, including from aircraft.
The Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, assured that he was not informed of the matter until late April, despite Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Rajmund Andrzejczak saying he warned those responsible “then of the facts”.
On Friday, the National Security Service (BBN), in the sphere of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is the top military chief under the constitution, stressed that the information he had “did not warrant personal decisions within the command of the armed forces”.
According to BBN, “no conclusion has been presented to the president” on the matter.
Without commenting on the allegations against him, the commander of the operational forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski, this Friday appealed to “reason”, “weighing emotions”, saying he had “faith” in the Polish justice system.
For his part, the head of the centrist opposition, Donald Tusk, estimated that “the first decision” to be made should be the resignation of Blaszcza, who, he charged, wants to “hide behind the generals”.
From the left come accusations of “lies” and “manipulations” by power.
Polish media said the missile had Cyrillic characters and was not armed, which was not officially confirmed until Friday.
The city of Bydgoszcz is home to important Polish armed forces, NATO institutions and weapons factories.
Source: DN
