2023-06-05 13:44 update: 2023-06-07, 18:47
Photo PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Poland's opposition has filed a no-confidence motion against the defence minister in connection with the entry of a Russian missile into Polish airspace last December.
The missile's remains were found accidentally in April by a holidaymaker in a forest near the Polish city of Bydgoszcz in north-central Poland. Responding to its discovery, Mariusz Blaszczak, the defence minister, claimed he had known nothing about it, and blamed Poland's military command for not informing him about the missile.
Tomasz Siemoniak from main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), himself a former defence minister, said on Monday that the motion against Blaszczak had already been filed to the Sejm (lower parliamentary house).
Siemoniak said the affair "compromised minister Blaszczak in every possible way."
"If he knew nothing about it, then this means the operational system he established in the defence ministry barred him from knowledge about a matter of key importance for Poland's security," Siemoniak said.
In late April, the Defence Ministry announced that the remains of an unidentified military object, believed to be an unarmed Russian missile, had been found in a forest 15 kilometres from Bydgoszcz.
The Defence Ministry later revealed that the missile crashed on December 16, 2022, but an investigation was only launched after it was found. (PAP)
