2023-05-13 05:39:56
At the end of April 2023, the remains of a “air military object” – a Russian Kh-55 cruise missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which fell in December, according to Polish media – were found by a passerby in a forest near Bydgoszcz in northern Poland, around 500 kilometers from the eastern border. This debris is today at the heart of a political storm in this NATO member country, which aims to become a European military power.
The populist nationalist government, hitherto silent on this affair, made its first public comment on this subject on Thursday, May 11. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak accused the commander of the operational forces of having neglected the search operations for the remains of the projectile and of not informing anyone of the incident. However, Mr. Blaszczak did not ask for his resignation or his suspension.
The Polish soldiers and their American colleagues present in Poland however followed the flight of the machine well, including from their planes, he added. “We have been in contact with our Polish counterparts about this. We try to find out a little more »National Security Council spokesman John Kerby told reporters in Washington on Friday.
Appeal to “reason”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, for his part, assured that he was not informed of this affair until the end of April, even if the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Rajmund Andrzejczak, declares revealing it to officials “at the time of the events”.
On Friday, the National Security Bureau (BBN), linked to Polish President Andrzej Duda – who is, under the Constitution, the supreme commander 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 conclusion was presented to the president” in that case.
Without commenting on the accusations made against him, the commander of the operational forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski, called on Friday to ” the reason “To “weighing the emotions”saying do ” trust “ to the Polish courts.
At the same time, the leader of the centrist Polish opposition, Donald Tusk, considered that “the first decision” to take was that of dismissing Mr. Blaszczak who, according to him, is trying to “hide behind the generals”. The centrist Tomasz Siemoniak, former defense minister, for his part 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”, concluded Mr. Siemoniak in front of the press. For its part, the left has denounced ” The lie “ et “manipulations” power.
Nearly 10,000 American soldiers on Polish soil
According to the Polish media, the missile on which one could discern inscriptions in Cyrillic had no armed head, 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 arms factories.
A direct neighbor of Ukraine, Poland hosts in particular on its soil, within the framework of the Atlantic Alliance, approximately 10,000 American soldiers and has just embarked on imposing arms purchases in order to strengthen its own defense capabilities. . In July, Warsaw had signed framework agreements with South Korea covering a thousand K2 tanks, 672 K9A1 self-propelled howitzers, 50 FA-50 fighter planes and 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems. In addition, the first of the 32 American F-35 planes are expected in Poland from 2024.
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On Wednesday, Minister Blaszczak said he expected to sign a contract with Washington for his country to acquire 96 Apache helicopters and that the first Himars multiple rocket launchers should arrive in Poland sometime in May.
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