The members of the panel were appointed in a vote on Wednesday afternoon, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
All nine candidacies had been proposed by the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. Opposition groups did not put forward any candidates and did not take part in the vote, except the far-right Confederation grouping, which voted against the governing party’s candidates.
The newly appointed members of the Russian influence commission include the head of Poland's Military History Bureau (WBH), Sławomir Cenckiewicz, presidential aide Andrzej Zybertowicz and the head of the presidential Security and Defence Council, Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski, among others.
After Wednesday’s vote, government spokesman Piotr Müller said the probe into Russian influence in Polish politics was being opposed by “those responsible for the policy of resetting relations with Russia,” including opposition leader and former Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the members of his Cabinet from 2007 to 2014.
Müller added that concerns raised by the European Union’s executive Commission about the new panel’s potential interference in the Polish electoral process, among other issues, were “absurd.”
The government spokesman told public broadcaster TVP Info that “a part of the European Commission” wanted to see “a more pliant government in Poland“ to “implement policy ideas from Brussels.”
Müller claimed that Russia had "links among the energy and climate policy officials in Brussels."
He said: “And so such a move by Poland, designed to expose certain processes that had taken place in our country, is also a threat to those who had worked with Russia in the legislative process in Brussels.”
Müller added that investigating Russian influence in Polish politics was “a matter of Poland’s security.”
Polish probe into Russian influence in politics
The new law setting up a state commission for the examination of Russian interference in the internal security of Poland from 2007 to 2022 entered into force on May 31.
It was enacted as an initiative by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
On June 2, President Andrzej Duda proposed amendments to the law, saying that the new commission of inquiry should not include lawmakers or have power to ban anyone from holding public office.
Instead, the panel should be empowered “to state that a person who has been found to be acting under Russian influence does not guarantee the proper performance of public duties," the president said.
Duda said he was sending amendments to parliament because he was aware of domestic and international criticism surrounding the law.
The amendments were greenlighted by parliament in late July.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Thursday is day 554 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Polsat News
