Prime Minister Donald Tusk signed an order establishing a commission to investigate Russian and Belarusian influence. Experts – members of the commission – will check Eastern influences on Poland’s internal security and interests.  The commission will deal with the period from 2004 to 2024.  At the request of the Minister of Justice, the Prime Minister appointed the head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, General Jarosław Stróżyk, as the chairman of the commission.

‘During his extensive career, he has been a diplomat, a military commander, the deputy head of NATO intelligence, as well as a scientist, a doctor of security science, and a very competent person in general. His task will be to coordinate the commission, which will consist of, as we will finally decide next week, from 9 to 13 participants,’ said Donald Tusk during the press conference.

The members of the commission will be recommended by: the Minister of the Interior and Administration, the Coordinator of Special Services, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of State Assets and Minister of Digitisation. 

‘Of course, I will expect primarily experts in particular fields, and I am in constant dialogue with ministers. ... The commission’s actions will be discreet. There will be no media hearings – in fact, there will be no media during the work of this committee.  However, we will provide regular information about its results,’ explained the head of the Polish government.  

The first partial report on the commission’s work will be prepared after around two months of its activity, i.e., after the elections to the European Parliament.

‘I will be glad if this commission’s work frees the atmosphere and Polish life in Poland from this unbearable burden of speculations, guesses, hundreds of publications, television broadcasts and dozens of books on that subject. Over all those years, we have had an ocean of information about alleged, actual, perhaps false information about the influence of Russian and Belarusian services on the actions of politicians or senior officials. Therefore, we will wait for urgent and quick results of this commission’s work,’ said Donald Tusk.

The commission’s work will probably result in applications to the prosecutor’s office and opinions on why the investigation of the influence of Russian and Belarusian services was abandoned in previous years.

Today the meeting of the Board for Special Services took place, too, after which Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the regional structures of the Internal Security Agency will be restored.

‘As a result of actions already taken, I can say that the Internal Security Agency will soon have the same structure as before the changes introduced under Prime Minister Szydło. I mean the withdrawal of the liquidation or reduction of these parts of the Internal Security Agency that worked in the field,’ announced Donald Tusk.

This is the beginning of the reinforcement of special services. The next step will be the financial and personnel reinforcement of the Internal Security Agency and the Intelligence Agency.

Attempts to cross the border with Belarus illegally have occurred daily for months. The information that groups of migrants crossing our border illegally are backed up by Russia has been confirmed.

‘The pressure on the eastern border of Poland is not a spontaneous migration of people fleeing various countries. These highly precise data are very alarming at the moment. More than 90% of people crossing the Polish border illegally have Russian visas. This is different to what was at the beginning of this migration pressure,’ said Donald Tusk.

In countries like Somalia, Eritrea, Yemen or Ethiopia, there are Russian outposts that recruit groups of people. Such groups are usually brought to Moscow and then transported to Belarus.

‘Currently, several places of concentration of such organised migrant groups have been located in Russia. We are speaking of thousands of people here,’ emphasised the head of the Polish government. I am talking about this also because we should realise how demanding, hard and sometimes dangerous job our Border Guard, Police and Army have on this border,’ he added.

This is why the full security of the Polish eastern border under the Shield East project involving partial fortifications is so important.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk informed that 12 persons (including three last night) had been arrested so far.

‘Our services are really very efficient here as far as sabotage and subversion attempts in Poland and the neighbouring countries are concerned,’ said the Prime Minister. He assured that ‘we will inform you about actions of our services as far as this is possible and expedient’.

He also appealed to all media in Poland not to repeat speculations or false information about sabotage acts and actions of our services.

‘Today we can also suppose – perhaps this is a bad word, but the threads we are checking are quite probable – that Russian services had also something to do with the fire at Marywilska Street. The procedure in this matter is under way,’ said Donald Tusk.

From Thursday 23^rd May, the entrepreneurs who sustained harm in the fire of the shopping centre at Marywilska Street may file applications for support to the office of the Social Insurance Company at 25 Podskarbińska Street in Warsaw.

‘The support will include ad hoc financial aid for sole traders – 2,000 zlotys for everyone who will confirm the loss of their stall. The funds come from the Industry Development Agency,’ informed Donald Tusk.

The entrepreneurs will also be entitled to apply for co-financing of part of their employees’ remuneration, in the amount of half of the minimum remuneration for a period of 3 months.

‘If you have lost your stall and employed people, we will pay half of the minimum wage to your employees in consideration of the losses if you employ these people elsewhere,’ announced the Prime Minister.

In the same point, the entrepreneurs affected by the fire will be entitled to apply for relief and cancellation of due social security contributions. Tax relief will also be available for the period of reconstruction of burnt stalls.

Krzysztof Szczucki, who was the head of the Government Legislation Centre in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister during the rule of Law and Justice, employed six people to run his election campaign.

‘During the campaign for the national parliament, Krzysztof Szczucki as the head of the Government Legislation Centre employed six people who did not perform any work here for a few months. Neither in the GLC, not in any other subordinate institution here. They did not even logged into computers,’ said Donald Tusk during the conference.

Although they did not work, they received huge remuneration.

‘During this couple of months, they were paid 900,000 zlotys. And, additionally, 120,000 zlotys for electoral gadgets and events promoting the legislation, as they were called. All of these events took place in the electoral district of Mr Szczucki,’ explained the Prime Minister.

The Chancellery of the Prime Minister filed an application in this matter to the prosecutor’s office.