Polish President signs law to investigate Russia’s influence on the country

Polish President Andrzej Duda said that he had signed a bill establishing a state commission to investigate Russian influence in Poland in 2007-2022. The document has already been sent to the country’s Constitutional Court for consideration

Photo: Andrzej Duda at an election rally, 2020. Source: Adam Warzawa/EPA-EFE

This is reported by Polish radio RMF 24, citing a statement by the Polish president made at a press conference in Warsaw.

Duda emphasized that he had decided to sign a law establishing a State Commission to investigate Russian influence on Poland’s internal security. He believes that Polish society should be aware of Russia’s influence on political life in the country over the past twenty years.

“That’s why I decided to sign the law that was recently approved by the parliament. It concerns the creation of a special state commission to investigate Russian influence on aspects related to Poland’s security over the past two decades,” Duda said.

According to him, Russian influence in Europe has caused turbulence on the continent and resulted in Russian aggression against Ukraine, energy, and other problems in the region. In his opinion, these influences need to be studied. Therefore, he asked Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to raise the issue of investigating Russian influence in Europe at the European Council.

“In my opinion, such a commission, a body of this type, should be created at the European level to investigate Russia’s influence in European institutions,” the Polish president said.

The draft law stipulates that the newly created commission will analyze official documents, cases of information transfer to third parties, and “harmful decisions” in the period from 2007 to 2022.

The commission will also have the power to cancel administrative decisions made as a result of Russian influence, to ban the performance of functions related to the management of public funds for up to 10 years, and to revoke access to state secrets for 10 years.

At the same time, Polish opposition forces opposed the creation of the commission in this form, emphasizing that it would be an instrument of pressure and persecution of the opposition.

According to opponents, the law establishing a commission to investigate Russian influence is a law designed to remove the leader of the Civic Platform party, Donald Tusk, from the political scene before the election, or at least humiliate him in the eyes of voters.

Donald Tusk himself, reacting to President Andrzej Duda’s decision, invited him to public consultations.

“Mr. President, I invite you to a public consultation on June 4. We will be well heard and seen from the windows of your palace. Will you come?” he wrote on Twitter.