The move was announced by Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Błaszczak spoke to the media after chairing a meeting of government ministers responsible for national security and defence, in the northeastern town of Krynki near the Belarusian border.
The defence minister told reporters that the resolution was timed to coincide with the release of director Agnieszka Holland's latest movie, The Green Border, about a migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border.
Błaszczak said the film “attacks the honour and good name of Poland, the honour and good name of Polish Army soldiers, Border Guard officials and police officers.”
He described Holland as a supporter of Poland’s largest opposition party, the Civic Platform (PO), and argued that the party's leader Donald Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president, had a “moral duty” to “apologise to Polish soldiers and officials” for the impact of the film.
Błaszczak also told the media that The Green Border was “very useful" for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his propaganda machine.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said that soldiers and officials protecting the border with Belarus were carrying out “extremely important work for the Polish state and for all citizens, regardless of their political views.”
He added that these law enforcement officers had the support of the public, “especially local residents, who would be the first victims of the chaos that the dictators from Minsk and Moscow would like to create in our country and for our citizens.”
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told reporters that Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko were "undoubtedly pleased with this attack on Polish soldiers and officials and their service."
He asserted that "Agnieszka Holland’s statements and films are already being used extensively in both Russian and Belarusian propaganda.”
The Federation of European Screen Directors on Monday came out in support of Holland, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The group, which represents over 20,000 European film and TV directors, said in an open letter it was “full of admiration” for Holland for her “strength and courage in the face of the appalling attacks against her and the film in Poland.”
“We stand squarely behind Agnieszka,” the federation added.
Holland has also received backing from the European Film Academy, other international organisations and from Poland’s Women in Film Association, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Green Border premiered on September 5 at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, winning a special jury prize, the PAP news agency reported.
“The film dramatizes the situation of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East who were lured to the Belarus-Poland border by propaganda promising easy passage into the European Union,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Holland told reporters in Venice that the movie sought “to capture this issue in all its complexity,” showing how “politicians, the armed forces, refugees, activists and the residents of the region responded to this challenge.”
She added that The Green Border aimed “to give voice to those who are deprived of it” and to “reflect how difficult are the choices we make,” the PAP news agency reported.
The Green Border is set to be released in Poland this weekend.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, gov.pl