POLAND: The US Defense Secretary Visit & more – 20th Feb 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 20th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s kick off with defense updates. On Friday, the 14th, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Polish Defense Minister, met with Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, in Warsaw to discuss defense cooperation. Hegseth praised Poland’s defense spending and its desire to invest more in the security of the continent. Kosiniak-Kamysz proposed creating joint US-Polish defense companies to boost military production. Both leaders talked about strategies to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank with military resources like tanks and helicopters.

Later, President Andrzej Duda met with Hegseth to discuss a possible larger US military presence in Poland, known as Fort Trump - a proposed permanent US military base in Poland. Duda supported Trump’s call for NATO countries to spend five percent of their GDPs on defense, saying that the rising Russian aggression makes increased military spending necessary.

On that note about the military, on Monday, the 17th, Kosiniak-Kamysz opened a joint training center for Ukraine and NATO in Bydgoszcz, northern Poland. The initiative aims to help Ukrainian troops work better with NATO while allowing NATO to learn from Ukraine’s defense against Russia. The center will be fully operational within a year, with Wojciech Ozga, the Polish General, in charge.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Poland would not send soldiers to Ukraine but would provide logistical support to strengthen NATO's eastern flank.

Still on security, on Friday, the 14th, a Polish court sentenced two Russian nationals to five and a half years in prison for espionage and attempting to destabilize Poland through hybrid warfare. Each will also have to pay 30,000 złoty, which is 7,600 dollars, to a fund supporting crime victims and former prisoners.

The men distributed recruitment stickers in Kraków and Warsaw, encouraging people to contact and join the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization. While they admitted to handing out stickers, they denied being spies or recruiting for Wagner.

The trial began in October twenty twenty-three, and the verdict is not final, as both sides may appeal. They will serve their sentences in Poland since the country has no diplomatic relations such as embassies or official channels for negotiations with Russia to allow a prison transfer.

Also on Friday, Prime Minister Tusk announced that Poland had arrested a Russian citizen suspected of coordinating sabotage against Poland, the U.S., and other allies. The suspect had been hiding in Bosnia and Herzegovina before being deported to Poland. He is charged with coordinating arson attacks and distributing incendiary devices while being linked to an international sabotage network, with four other individuals already facing charges.

Concerns about Russia's involvement in attacks on Western logistics networks are growing, with recent incidents in Poland, Germany, and the UK suggesting a coordinated effort.

Tusk praised the Internal Security Agency for their efforts and thanked Bosnia's intelligence agency for their help in the extradition.

Belarus also puts Poland at risk. On Wednesday, the 19th, the NGOHuman Rights Watch asked the Polish government to reject a bill that would temporarily suspend the right to asylum at the border with Belarus. The Polish government said this bill was necessary because Belarus and Russia were using migrants to destabilize Poland.

Meanwhile, PM Tusk opposed the EU's migration pact, which shares responsibility for migrants among EU countries, and added that Poland will not take in more migrants from other EU countries. The NGO also urged the European Commission to make sure people can access asylum procedures in Poland, saying that, as the EU president, Poland should help those fleeing war and persecution.

If passed, the bill would let Poland suspend the right to seek asylum for up to sixty days, with possible extensions approved by the parliament.

Let’s get back to Ukraine for a bit. On Tuesday, the 18th, Piotr Serafin, the EU Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud, and Public Administration, announced the results of an investigation into equipment purchased for Ukraine by the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves during the previous government of the Law and Justice party.

The commissioner found that the project, valued at 122 million dollars and funded by the EU, had overpriced items, favored specific companies, and misappropriated EU funds. As a result, the EU ordered Poland to repay about 97 million dollars, and the European Anti-Fraud Office recommended recovering these funds as soon as possible to protect EU financial interests.

In other news, on Wednesday, the 19th, the Polish Space Agency confirmed that a Falcon 9 rocket booster entered Polish airspace and fell in Komorniki, a village in western Poland, near the city of Poznań. The booster, weighing about four tons, was part of SpaceX's Starlink mission that launched on the 1st of February.

Fortunately, no one was hurt during the incident, but the sighting of the Falcon 9 debris over Poland shows the growing problem of space debris and the risks it poses to public safety. This incident highlights the need for better monitoring and management of objects in space to prevent future dangers.

On Monday, the 17th, PM Tusk met with Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice President, who announced that Microsoft would invest up to three billion zloty, which is nearly 700 million dollars, in the cybersecurity and AI systems of the Polish army, aiming to complete the investment by July twenty twenty-six.

Poland is currently having talks with global tech leaders, including Google, which is planning to invest in the country's digital future through a partnership with the Polish Development Funds.

On Friday, the 14th, Krzysztof Paszyk, the Development Minister, introduced a new government housing program to make homeownership and social housing more accessible. The initiative focuses on buying existing homes and renovating them - instead of building new ones - and putting them up for sale. The project does not fund real estate developers.

The government will spend nearly three billion zloty, which is 630 million dollars, this year to renovate up to 15,000 municipal apartments. First-time buyers can get financial aid to buy homes from the secondary market, with price limits of 10,000 zloty, which is 2,500 dollars per square meter nationwide, and 11,000 zloty which is 2,700 dollars, in major cities.

The program also includes measures to prevent speculation, like income-based eligibility criteria and restrictions on reselling homes for a certain time.

On cultural news, on Friday, the 14th, Poland chose Justyna Steczkowska, a fifty-two-year-old singer known for her diverse musical styles, including pop, rock, and folk, to represent the country at the sixty-ninth Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland. Steczkowska will sing Gaja, a song that celebrates the beauty of nature, highlighting themes of life, harmony, and the connection between humanity and Earth.

On the same day, a historic eighteen thirteen Holey Dollar returned to Polish authorities during a ceremony at the Polish Embassy in Canberra, Australia. This unique coin comes from a Spanish silver dollar minted in Mexico in seventeen seventy-seven. Walery Amrogowicz, a Polish collector, acquired it in nineteen fourteen and later donated it to a museum in Toruń, in northern Poland.

The coin went missing between twenty eleven and twenty eighteen. After thieves stole it, the coin changed hands through auctions in Germany and Melbourne before a Perth collector bought it for 332,000 dollars. The Australian Federal Police recovered the coin in Perth in August twenty twenty-four.

Next week, on Thursday, the 27th, Poland will celebrate Tłusty Czwartek, or Fat Thursday. On this day, people eat lots of sweet treats, especially pączki, which are Polish donuts filled with jam or cream. Many also enjoy faworki, which are light and crispy pastries. Tłusty Czwartek marks the last week of Carnival, making it a day for enjoying sweet treats before the more restrained practices of Lent, which is a period of fasting for many Christians leading up to Easter.

Be sure to savor a delightful doughnut!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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