The opposition in Poland has criticised the PiS-led government for its inadequate reaction to the coup attempt orchestrated by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner soldiers against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The recent developments in Russia, where a powerful mercenary group leader challenged Russian military leadership, sparked intensive discussion in Poland on whether the government and the security forces reacted appropriately.
“On Saturday morning, your leader, Deputy Prime Minister (Jarosław Kaczyński), did not even mention what happened in Russia,” opposition Civic Platform (PO) MP Marzena Okła-Drewnowicz told Radosław Fogiel, spokesman for the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, referring to Kaczyński’s interview for RMF FM radio.
It is not about scaring society, but about the government’s care, about the Polish people’s security, she added in a Sunday programme of private Polsat News broadcaster.
She also cited the case of a Russian rocket missile falling in December near the city of Bydgoszcz, which was reportedly discovered only a few months later.
Fogiel rejected the criticism, pointing to escalating emotions as useless. A politician’s role is not to run around and scream “alarm,” “war,” or “fire,” he said, adding that the MPs like Okła-Drewnowicz had no sufficient knowledge of how the state bodies do react in such situations.
Government spokesman Piotr Müller responded to Okła-Drewnowicz’s question whether the Polish authorities consulted the reaction to the developments in Russia with their counterparts from other EU and NATO countries, publishing a list on Twitter of the leaders Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki consulted on Saturday.
The list included 16 European leaders, including European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Referring to PO spokesman Jan Grabiec’s accusation that the PiS government launched wide consultations only 24 hours after Prigozhin launched his revolt, Müller said that PO’s motto is “to lie, lie, lie.”
President Duda called a meeting of the National Security Council (RBN) on Saturday night. He declared that the situation in Russia was being monitored and that there absolutely was no threat to Poland’s security.
On Friday, Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group, said regular Russian forces had attacked a mercenary camp causing multiple fatalities, adding that he would “restore justice” in the armed forces. Prigozhin and his forces took control of Rostov-on-Don.
As of Sunday morning, the threat had subsided, but neither Europe nor the US decided to declare the situation in Russia resolved.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
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