Top Polish generals resign days before elections

Two of Poland’s top generals have resigned amid reports of conflict with the government. Their departures come just days before elections in which national security has been a key part of the ruling party’s campaign.

This morning, Rzeczpospolita, a leading newspaper, reported that Rajmund Andrzejczak, the chief of the general staff of the Polish armed forces, and Tomasz Piotrowski, the operational commander of the armed forces, had submitted their resignations to President Andrzej Duda, who is Poland’s commander-in-chief.

📍”Rz”: Najważniejsi dowódcy polskiej armii podali się do dymisji. Wg dziennika w tle m. in. konflikt z @mblaszczak i upolitycznianie wojska w kampanii wyborczej. https://t.co/YdTvcUraSf

— Patryk Michalski (@patrykmichalski) October 10, 2023

Subsequently, a spokeswoman for the general staff confirmed to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that Andrzejczak resigned yesterday and a spokesman for operation command confirmed to news website Interia that Piotrowski had also handed in his notice. Both men have been in their posts since 2018.

Rzeczpospolita reports that the generals’ decisions were the result of a “conflict that has been simmering since May”, when the defence minister, Mariusz Błasczak, blamed the military leadership for the fact that a Russian missile landed in Poland but was not discovered for four months.

Błaszczak pushed at the time for Piotrowski’s dismissal but was rebuffed by Duda, reports Rzeczpospolita. As a result, the defence minister has instead sought to bypass the operational commander when making decisions, including with regard to reinforcing the border with Belarus.

A missile, reportedly Russian, landed in Poland in December but remained unfound until being discovered in April, reportedly by a member of the public.

The opposition has called for the defence minister to be sacked, but he blames a top general https://t.co/BaUECtvBa8

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 12, 2023

The newspaper also claims that another factor in the generals’ resignation was the way that Błasczak has used the armed forces as part of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s election campaign, including publishing parts of a top-secret national defence plan from when the opposition was in power.

News of their decision to resign has come as a particular shock given that it has happened just days before parliamentary elections that will take place this Sunday.

PiS’s main campaign slogan has been “A safe future for Poles” and it has sought to emphasise that it is the only party that can ensure Poland’s security at a time of heightened threats from Russia, Belarus and irregular migration.

The defence minister has published a document he says shows the opposition, when in power, planned to give up half of Poland if Russia invaded

The opposition accuses him of treason for declassifying the file to benefit the ruling party’s election campaign https://t.co/NF5ZD4Z0QQ

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 18, 2023

“This is an earthquake, an unprecedented situation,” said Tomasz Siemoniak, a leading opposition figure and former defence minister, told broadcaster TVN. “This is a summary of eight years of PiS rule over the Polish army.”

“This also goes beyond Poland’s borders, because NATO allies are certainly already taking note,” added Siemoniak. “General Andrzejczak is a member of the NATO military committee, a respected general, and the whole world now knows that in Poland we have a dramatic crisis between the government and the army.”

At the time of writing, neither the government nor the president’s office had commented on developments.

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Main image credit: MON (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.