WARSAW, Poland — On Friday, the Polish legal system saw charges brought against a former defense minister, who is accused of abusing his authority by declassifying segments of a national defense strategy from a prior administration led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The government under Tusk has charged Mariusz B?aszczak, the ex-defense minister, with jeopardizing state security by disclosing sensitive military details for personal political advantage before a nationwide election.
Cezary Tomczyk, the deputy defense minister, expressed last month in parliament that “the basic mission of a spy in Poland would prioritize the theft of defense plans, yet nobody anticipated that the defense minister himself could assume such a role.”
B?aszczak’s tenure as defense minister occurred under a national conservative regime that governed from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, he released sections of a defense strategy initially formulated in 2011. This documentation outlined a scenario where the Polish military would retreat to the Vistula River, a central feature of Poland, in the event of an eastern invasion by Russia.
Following his session at the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, B?aszczak informed reporters of the charges presented to him, according to the state news agency PAP. He argued the accusations lacked validity.
On the social platform X, B?aszczak stated that he faced prosecution for “declassifying the first Tusk government’s plan to surrender half of Poland without a fight.”
B?aszczak maintained, “I would do it again without hesitation. I possessed not only the right but also the obligation.” He emphasized that his actions allowed Polish citizens to understand the intended fate for Eastern Poland’s inhabitants prepared by Tusk.
Concluding his statement directed at Tusk, B?aszczak added, “Thanks to this, such plans will never be revisited.”
