“We are dealing here with something exceptionally shocking, if we take into account that all this was happening at a moment when the Russians were preparing far-reaching, intensive operations directed not only against Poland, but also against NATO,” recalled the circumstances surrounding the establishment of cooperation between the Polish and Russian services during Donald Tusk’s governments, said Prof. Piotr Grochmalski on the program Political Coffee on TV Republika.
One of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s first decisions after returning to power in 2023 was to dismiss the members of the commission tasked with examining Russian influence in Poland in the years 2007-2022. The report produced by this body was also concealed. The publication has now returned – the report was published on the website of the National Security Bureau (BBN).
Prof. Piotr Grochmalski recalled that an integral part of the report, included as an annex, is the questioning of then-Prime Minister Tusk by the prosecution. The TV Republika guest pointed to questions concerning Article 19 of the Act on the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) and the Military Intelligence Service (SWW), which provides for the immediate transmission by the heads of these services of information to the President of Poland.
Asked why President Lech Kaczyński had not been informed about the establishment of cooperation between Polish and Russian services, Tusk was said to have rejected the allegation, arguing that in his interpretation of this provision, informing the head of state should concern only threats to Poland.
Russia Was Preparing for Operations Against NATO
Prof. Grochmalski summed up that Russian services had aggressive intentions toward Poland, and that one of the key figures with whom the Polish services signed cooperation agreements was Gen. Aleksander Bezwierchny.
“This was a man who supervised the Western Group of Forces, which until 1994 was stationed in Germany, for whom Polish territory was crucial in terms of supply and oversight,” recalled the guest of the program Political Coffee.
He also recalled the figure of FSB representative Gen. Vladimir Yuzvik, who was delegated to cooperate with the Polish Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW).
He noted that during bilateral meetings the Russians made detailed notes, while on the Polish side no such record remained.
“We are dealing here with something exceptionally shocking, if we take into account that all this was happening at a moment when the Russians were preparing far-reaching, intensive operations directed not only against Poland, but also against NATO,” explained Prof. Grochmalski.
Not a Reset, Not a Retouch, but the Mutilation of Relations
He also cited the figure of Alexander Bortnikov, who has served as head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) since 2008 and who, during the so-called “reset,” was heavily involved in Russian-Polish intelligence cooperation.
“This is the mutilation of the entire policy that the Polish state had developed since 1989,” he said about the so-called reset of relations with Russia. The station’s guest assessed that Donald Tusk “mutilated” the model of cooperation with our eastern neighbors that had been in force since the beginning of the Second Polish Republic (II RP) and built over many years. – “An important element was cooperation with the Russian services,” he added.
In conclusion, he recalled that the Polish diplomat and graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Jarosław Bratkiewicz, shortly after the tragic death of the Polish delegation near Smolensk, appealed in an internal note to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MSZ) to use this national tragedy to open up even further to Russia.
Finally, he added that it was precisely with the concealment of the report containing these figures and their “achievements” that Donald Tusk began his rule two years ago.