Poland sets up commission to probe Russian intelligence activities
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday said he has set up a commission to investigate Russian and Belarusian secret service activities in Poland over the past 20 years.
General Jarosław Stróżyk, head of military counter-intelligence, is set to chair the commission.
Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine and a logistical hub for Western military aid for Kiev, has been a regular target of Russian secret services.
Tusk on Monday announced that nine suspects had been detained on charges of attempted sabotage.
On Tuesday, he said three more arrests have been made, and added that a recent fire at a Warsaw shopping centre which destroyed more than 1,400 shops may have been caused by Russian secret services.
Poland's previous government under the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) had also sought to investigate the extent of Russian intelligence activities in the country with a commission of inquiry.
The controversial commission was tasked with investigating whether officials had made decisions between 2007 and 2022 threatening Poland's security under Russian influence.
Critics accused the PiS of using the commission to target opposition politicians for allegedly being Russia-friendly just months before parliamentary elections in autumn 2023.
Polish media spoke of a "Lex Tusk" (Tusk law) aimed directly at Tusk, against which hundreds of thousands of Poles protested. Tusk eventually beat the PiS in the last elections.
