The announcement of the discovery of the debris of a missile "probably Russian" in the heart of Poland has caused a political storm in Warsaw, the opposition crying scandal and demanding the resignation of the Minister of Defense who aims to make his country a European military power. In late April, the remains of a "military air object" — a Russian KH-55 cruise missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, that fell in December, according to Polish media — were found by a passerby in a forest near Bydgoszcz in the north, about 500 km from the eastern border of the NATO member country.
To discover
- Follow the news about the war in Ukraine with the application of Le Figaro
The populist nationalist government, hitherto silent on the case, made its first public comment on the matter on Thursday. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak accused the commander of the task forces of neglecting operations to search for the projectile's debris and failing to inform anyone of the incident. Mr. Blaszczak, however, did not ask for his resignation or suspension. The Polish military and their American colleagues present in Poland have nevertheless followed the flight of the craft, including from their planes, he added.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was only made aware of the case at the end of April, even though the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Rajmund Andrzejczak, claims to have informed officials "at the time of the facts". On Friday, the National Security Bureau (BBN) under Polish President Andrzej Duda, who under the constitution is the supreme head of the armed forces, stressed that the information it has on the incident "would not justify personal decisions within the command of the armed forces". According to the BBN, "no findings were presented to the president" in this case. Without commenting on the accusations made against him, the commander of the operational forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski, called Friday for "reason", to "weigh emotions", saying to "trust" the Polish justice.
" READ ALSO In Poland, the name of the Russian city of Kaliningrad replaced by its old Polish name
"The king is naked"
Polish centrist opposition leader Donald Tusk said Friday that "the first decision" to be taken was to sack Blaszczak, who he said is trying to "hide behind the generals." Former centrist Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak described as "propaganda" the promise repeatedly made by the current holder of this post that Poland will have within two years "the most powerful army in Europe". "The king is naked," Siemoniak told reporters.
For its part, the left denounced "the lie" and "manipulations" of power. According to Polish media, the missile on which Cyrillic inscriptions could be discerned did not have an armed warhead, which no official source has ever confirmed to date. The city of Bydgoszcz, near which the missile fell, is home to large Polish military forces, NATO institutions and weapons factories.
See alsoSecond World War: the story of Anna and Liliana, linked by the Warsaw ghetto
Polish contracts
A direct neighbour of Ukraine, Poland hosts on its soil, within the framework of NATO, about 10,000 American soldiers and has just embarked on massive arms purchases to strengthen its own defense capabilities. In July, Warsaw signed framework agreements with South Korea for one thousand K2 tanks, 672 K9A1 self-propelled howitzers, 50 FA-50 fighter jets and 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher systems.
In addition, the first of the 32 US F-35 aircraft are expected in Poland as early as next year. On Wednesday, Minister Blaszczak said he planned to sign a contract with Washington for his country to acquire 96 Apache helicopters and that the first Himars multiple rocket launchers are expected to arrive in Poland in May.