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Poland detains man over alleged plot to kill Tusk and his deputy
Security officials said threats against Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz had a high probability of being carried out. No foreign link has been confirmed.
Key points
- Tusk said the man who threatened an attack was detained.
- Officials said there was a "high probability" the threats would be carried out.
- No link to Russia has been confirmed, though a former spy chief pointed to Moscow.
Polish police have detained a man over an alleged plot to kill Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is also deputy prime minister.
“The man who threatened to commit an attack was detained. I thank the police for their quick and decisive action,” Tusk wrote on X. The man has not been named.
“We are taking this matter very seriously”
Officials from the interior ministry, the State Protection Service and the Internal Security Agency met on Sunday after police received a number of reports of a possible attempt. Interior ministry spokesperson Karolina Gałęcka said threats were passed to police through the State Protection Service the same day.
“We are talking about a high probability that these threats will be carried out,” said Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesperson for Poland’s intelligence services. He said the information was made public so that it “doesn’t spread like a snowball, so that there is no speculation”.
“We are taking this matter very seriously,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told a briefing. “Right now, we’re talking about threats directed at the most important figures in the country.”
Questions over who is behind it
Investigators have not linked the plot to any foreign state. Andrzej Derlatka, a former head of Poland’s Foreign Intelligence Agency, pointed to the Kremlin. “I won’t hide it: From Putin’s perspective, Poland is Russia’s biggest enemy,” he said.
Former president Andrzej Duda called such threats “everyday business” and accused Tusk of using them “to cover up the problems” facing his government. In neighbouring Czechia, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said: “Our intelligence services remain in contact with the Polish ones and cooperate constantly.”