WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Ukrainian man suspected of being involved in causing undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 was arrested in Poland, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw said.
Volodymyr Z. was detained by police officers in Pruszkow, central Poland, according to Polish radio station RMF FM, which first reported on his capture. He has been transferred to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw. The man was detained on a European arrest warrant that was issued by German authorities.
The arrest announced Tuesday marks the second arrest of a Ukrainian man, following another in Italy last month, in connection with the explosion on the undersea pipelines that were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
The TikTok app and logo are seen on a mobile device in this illustration photo taken in Warsaw, Poland on 14 January, 2025. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | Image Credits:Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto / Getty Images
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on Fox News today and said that an agreement has been reached — but not signed — that would see TikTok’s U.S. operations spun out under majority American ownership.
Leavitt said Americans will hold six of seven board seats in the restructured TikTok, and the short-form video app’s algorithm will be U.S.-controlled, according to Bloomberg.
“So all of those details have already been agreed upon, now we just need this deal to be signed and that will be happening, I anticipate, in the coming days,” Leavitt said.
Bloomberg also reports that a senior White House official said new investors in TikTok will include Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and private equity firm Silver Lake Management, with Oracle responsible for the app’s security and safety. Current owner ByteDance would reportedly own less than 20% of the spun off company.
BERLIN (AP) — Polish authorities neutralized a drone flying above government buildings in Warsaw on Monday night, a spokesperson for the State Protection Services told The Associated Press.
Two employees of Poland’s State Protection Services working at the Belvedere castle, where the president resides, spotted the drone above the building and took steps leading to the detention of the operators, two Belarusian citizens, Col. Boguslaw Piorkowski said.
Poland is on high alert after multiple Russian drones crossed into the country last week in what European officials described as a deliberate provocation and causing NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down.
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Piorkowski said the drone flying over Warsaw on Monday night was not shot down, but landed after authorities apprehended the operators.
“The impression is that this is not something that flew in” from abroad but rather launched locally," Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, Poland’s minister of development funds and regional policy told TVN 24, advising against rushing to conclusions or associating it to last week’s incursion.
At least three Russian drones were shot down by Nato and Polish aircraft in Poland’s airspace during overnight attacks on Ukraine, the Polish prime minister has said.
Donald Tusk told MPs that Poland had recorded 19 drone incursions, with some flying deep enough to temporarily close four airports, including Warsaw’s main hub Chopin.
Jets were scrambled in response to what Tusk described as a “provocation”.
The incident marks the first time Russian drones have been shot down over the territory of a Nato member since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia declined to comment, while Ukraine’s foreign minister said the incident showed “Putin continues to escalate, expands the war”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow: “We wouldn’t like to comment on this. This is not for us to do so. It’s the prerogative of the Defence Ministry [to answer].”
Russia’s temporary charge d’affaires in Poland said Warsaw had not provided evidence that the drones were of Russian origin.
Polish authorities have no information suggesting anyone was injured or died “as a result of the Russian action”, Tusk told Poland’s Parliament.
“The fact that these drones, which posed a security threat, were shot down changes the political situation,” he said.
“I have no reason to claim we’re on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it’s incomparably more dangerous than before. This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two”.
Tusk said three – or perhaps four – drones were shot down overnight.
Separately, an interior ministry spokeswoman said authorities found seven drones and the remains of an unidentified object in sites across the country.
Karolina Galecka told a news conference that five of the drones and the remains of the unidentified object were found in different locations in Lublin province in eastern Poland, bordering Belarus and Ukraine.
Two of the drones were discovered in central and northern Poland, much further from the borders, she said.
One was discovered in a field in Mniszków, in Łódź province in central Poland, about 250 km (155 miles) from the Belarusian border. Another was discovered near the city of Elbląg in northern Poland.
[BBC]
Tusk, who convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning, has asked to invoke article 4 of the Nato treaty, which formally starts urgent talks between members of the alliance.
Poland is a member state of Nato – which ties the US and many European nations together on collective defence.
Both Tusk and Polish President Karol Nawrocki have said they are in “regular contact” with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who praised a “very successful reaction” by the alliance.
“The security of our homeland is our highest priority and requires close cooperation,” President Nawrocki said on X.
Rutte added that the situation is being investigated, as he condemned Russia’s “reckless behaviour”, irrespective of whether it was deliberate.
Belarus, a close Russian ally, claimed the drones entered Polish airspace accidentally after their navigation systems were jammed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Poland is at its closest to open conflict than at any time since World War Two. [EPA/Shutterstock]
Overnight, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said the drones were tracked by radar by both Polish and Nato aircraft stationed in the country.
The military said: “As a result of the attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory, there was an unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by drone-type objects.
“Searches and efforts to locate the potential crash sites of these objects are ongoing.”
Although Poland’s military operation has ended, it urged people to stay at home, naming Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lublin regions as most at risk.
“With the safety of citizens in mind, we urge that in the event of observing an unknown object or its debris, do not approach, touch, or move it,” the military wrote on X.
“Such elements may pose a threat and contain hazardous materials. They must be thoroughly inspected by the appropriate services.”
The Polish military also thanked Nato’s Air Command and the Netherlands for deploying F35 fighter jets.
Polish military’s Gen Wieslaw Kukula attends an emergency meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk [Reuters]
Flight operations were suspended for hours at Warsaw’s Chopin and Modlin airports, as well as at Rzeszów–Jasionka and Lublin.
A number of flights which had been due to land at Chopin airport were diverted to Gdansk, Katowice, Wroclaw, Poznan and Copenhagen.
After airspace over the the capital was re-opened, Chopin airport said disruptions and delays may last throughout the day and warned passengers to expect delays.
Passengers check their delayed flights on monitors at the international airport in Warsaw [AFP via Getty Images]
The Russian drones that entered Poland were part of the latest major aerial attack on Ukraine.
In total, Ukraine’s air force reported more than 400 drones and 42 cruise missiles were launched just before midnight and the bombardment lasted throughout the night.
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the latest attack was “an extremely dangerous precedent for Europe”.
Writing on Telegram, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Putin is “testing the West”.
“The longer he faces no strength in response, the more aggressive he gets.
“A weak response now will provoke Russia even more — and then Russian missiles and drones will fly even further into Europe.”
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, MassachusettsThe waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.
Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, Massachusetts
The waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.
“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.
“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”
McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.
This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.
“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”
The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.
Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.
“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.
“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”
The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”
“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.
A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.
“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.
The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.
Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.
His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.
Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.
But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.
According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, MassachusettsThe waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.
Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, Massachusetts
The waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.
“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.
“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”
McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.
This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.
“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”
The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.
Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.
“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.
“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”
The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”
“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.
A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.
“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.
The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.
Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.
His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.
Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.
But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.
According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — France will provide Poland with two observation satellites and a receiving station under a deal sealed Tuesday in Warsaw which Poland says will help its armed forces recognize threats early.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, after meeting with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, announced that they approved an agreement between Airbus and the Polish Armament Agency on equipping the Polish army with two reconnaissance satellites.
Błaszczak said the agreement represented “a good opportunity to strengthen our capacity for the early detection of threats.”
The Polish Armament Agency put the total value of the deal at 575 million euros ($612 million) and said the launch of the satellites into space would be completed by 2027.
The Polish Defense Ministry said that thanks to the satellites, its military will be able to obtain reconnaissance data with an accuracy of 30 centimeters (nearly a foot).
Błaszczak called it an early-warning system against both military and civilian threats such as natural disasters.
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s top police official told a radio broadcaster that a grenade launcher that was a present from Ukrainian officials accidentally exploded while he was moving it in his office this week.
Gen. Jarosław Szymczyk gave his first comments after the unusual incident to Poland’s Radio RMF FM, which reported them on Saturday.
The explosion occurred on Wednesday morning at national police headquarters in Warsaw. Amid media reporters speculating on the incident, the Interior Ministry issued a statement on Thursday saying that a gift from Ukraine had exploded, and that Szymczyk and another person suffered minor injuries.
But the statement left many questions unanswered, including what the present was and who triggered the explosion.
Szymczyk confirmed reports in Polish media that the gift had been a grenade launcher.
RMF FM, citing police officials, said Szymczyk received two used anti-tank grenade launchers as presents during a recent visit to Ukraine. There were no other details, but the report suggested that neither the Ukrainians nor the Poles believed the launchers had any explosive potential. One had been transformed into a loudspeaker.
“When I was moving the used grenade launchers, which were gifts from the Ukrainians, there was an explosion,” Szymczyk told the broadcaster. He said the explosion was so powerful that the force of its impact pierced the floor and the ceiling.
Szymczyk was initially hospitalized for observation while the other person, a civilian employee, did not require hospitalization.
Poland is an ally of Ukraine and has offered the neighboring country various kinds of support, including military and humanitarian aid, since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. Poland also has accepted a large number of Ukrainian refugees.
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that his country’s offer to send Patriot anti-missile systems to Poland remains on the table despite Warsaw’s suggestion that they should go to Ukraine instead.
Poland’s proposal has received a cool response from Berlin, where some are concerned that deploying Patriots to Ukraine could draw NATO into the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Defense experts say training for the highly sophisticated system could also take years, meaning it would not meet Ukraine’s immediate needs.
“Our offer to the Polish government to protect their own country is not yet off the table,” Scholz told reporters during a news conference in Berlin.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, NATO beefed up defenses along its eastern flank. The alliance deployed U.S. Patriot batteries to Poland and German Patriot batteries to Slovakia, as well as a French equivalent system to Romania.
Scholz said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had thanked Germany during a call Tuesday for the financial and military support it has provided to Kyiv so far, including air defense systems.
Germany is looking into providing more Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, as well as the IRIS-T surface-to-air missile system, he said.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
WARSAW, Poland — The European Union’s border agency said Monday that the number of illegal entries by migrants spiked to more than 275,000 in the January through October period this year.
The figure is 73% higher than at the same time in 2021, and the highest since a peak in 2016, Frontex said.
The Warsaw-based European Border and Coast Guard Agency said that most entries continue to happen on the Western Balkan route, where over 128,000 of them were detected. The migrants on that route are mainly from Burundi, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The central Mediterranean route, with migrants chiefly trying to reach Italy, has also seen a 48% rise in unauthorized arrivals, surpassing 79,000 in the first 10 months of 2022, a Frontex statement said.
However, the activity has slowed down on the Western Mediterranean route and on the land route from Ukraine and Belarus. EU members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have built walls on their borders with Belarus to stop the migrants from trying to illegally enter.
Frontex said that the high number of crossings on the West Balkans area “can be attributed to repeated attempts to cross the border by migrants already present” in the area, but also to people “abusing visa-free access to the region.”
It said some migrants fly visa-free to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, which isn’t in the EU, and then head toward the external border of the 27-member bloc.
In response, Frontex has added more than 500 corps officers and staff to the region.
In total, more than 2,300 corps officers and Frontex staff are “taking part in various operational activities at the EU external border,” the agency said.
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Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
WARSAW, Poland — The son of World War II Auschwitz death camp hero Witold Pilecki is seeking millions in compensation from the Polish government for his father’s post-war arrest and 1948 execution by the country’s communist authorities of the time.
The case opened Thursday before a Warsaw court and the next session is scheduled for January. Andrzej Pilecki, aged 90, argues that 26 million zlotys ($5.7 million) compensation would be due to his father by Poland’s law that redresses communist-era wrongs.
His father, Cavalry Capt. Witold Pilecki, a Polish resistance member, volunteered in 1940 to be caught by the Nazi Germans and held at Auschwitz in order to organize resistance there and gather evidence of German atrocities. He escaped in 1943 and wrote a report that was the first direct account from Auschwitz made available to the Allies.
After the war he was arrested, tortured and executed by the Moscow-appointed authorities on charges of spying for Poland’s government-in-exile in London. His remains have not been found.
In 1990, Poland’s democratic government paid Pilecki’s widow and two children compensation for the material support that they lost due to his execution.
WARSAW, Poland — Polish soldiers began laying razor wire Wednesday along Poland’s border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad after the government ordered the construction of a barrier to prevent what it fears could become another migration crisis.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said a recent decision by Russia’s aviation authority to launch flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad led him to reinforce Poland’s 210-kilometer (130-mile) border with Kaliningrad.
“Due to the disturbing information regarding the launch of flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad, I have decided to take measures that will strengthen the security on the Polish border with the Kaliningrad oblast by sealing this border,” Blaszczak said.
Blaszczak said the barrier along the border would be made of three rows of razor wire measuring 2½ meters (eight feet) high and 3 meters (10 feet) wide and feature an electronic monitoring system and cameras. The Polish side also will have a fence to keep animals away from the razor wire.
Before now, the sparsely inhabited border area was patrolled but had no physical barrier.
To the south, Poland’s border with Belarus became the site of a major migration crisis last year, with large numbers of people from the Middle East entering illegally. Polish and other EU leaders accused the Belarusian government — an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — of masterminding the migration to create chaos and division within the 27-nation bloc.
Poland erected similar rolls of razor wire before building a permanent high steel wall on the border with Belarus, which was completed in June.
Blaszczak, the defense minister, said the government was persuaded to install fencing near Kaliningrad because of Poland’s experience at the Belarus border, where a similar action “prevented a hybrid attack from Belarus or significantly slowed down this attack.”
The chief executive of Khrabrovo Airport in Kaliningrad, Alexander Korytnyi, told Russia’s Interfax news agency on Oct. 3 that the facility would seek to “attract airlines from countries in the Persian Gulf and Asia,” including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
In the last month, Poland’s Border Guard agency has not detected anyone attempting to enter the country illegally from Kaliningrad, although a few mushroom pickers wandered into the area by mistake, agency spokeswoman Miroslawa Aleksandrowicz told state news agency PAP.
Some in Poland are criticizing the barrier.
Zuzanna Dabrowska, a commentator writing for the conservative daily newpaper Rzeczpospolita, wrote Wednesday that the barrier would be ineffective and a hazard because razor wire is dangerous for animals and people who try to cross it.
She argued that people from the Middle East and Africa were still trying to illegally enter Poland from Belarus despite the border wall.
“The barrier did not scare them away, because they have no safe retreat, pressured by Belarusian border guards,” Dabrowska wrote.
Poland’s government has strongly criticized critics of the Belarus border wall, depicting them as helping those who seek to harm Poland.
The exclave of Kaliningrad, with a population of about 1 million, is the northern part of what used to be the German territory of East Prussia and became part of the Soviet Union after World War II.
It is home to the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy and also an industrial center. Seaside dunes and resorts, what’s left of the old Prussian architecture in the city of Kaliningrad, and maritime and amber museums are among the tourist attractions.
Soldiers began laying the razor wire in Wisztyniec, the place where the borders of Poland, Russia and Lithuania meet. Lithuania, like Poland, is a member of both NATO and the European Union.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined Wednesday to comment on the Kaliningrad border barrier, describing it as “a Polish matter.”
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Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s defense minister said Wednesday that he has ordered the construction of a barrier along the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
The move comes as Warsaw suspects that Russia plans to facilitate illegal border crossings by Asian and African migrants.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the border needs to be sealed in order for Poland to feel secure. He said he had authorized the construction of a temporary barrier along the 210-kilometer (130-mile) border.
The work began on Wednesday with Polish soldiers specialized in demining carrying out preparatory work. It is due to be completed by the end of 2023.
Blaszczak said a recent decision by Russia’s aviation authority to launch flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad led him to take measures that would strengthen security “by sealing this border.”
A spokesman for the Border Guard agency, Konrad Szwed, told The Associated Press that the barrier would consist of an electric fence. There is currently no barrier along the border, but there are frequent patrols by border guards, he said.
Poland’s border with Belarus became the site of a major migration crisis last year, with large numbers of people crossing illegally. Poland erected a steel wall on the border with Belarus that was completed in June.
Polish and other EU leaders accused the Belarusian government — which is allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin — of masterminding the migration in order to create chaos and division within the European Union.
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WARSAW, Poland — Belarus’ opposition leader said Wednesday that she believes Russian military setbacks in Ukraine could shake the hold on power of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“We have a distracted Russia that is about to lose this war. It won’t be able to prop Lukashenko up with money and military support as in 2020,” said Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, speaking at a security conference in Warsaw.
Tsikhanouskaya fled to Lithuania after Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in disputed August 2020 elections that were viewed in the West as fraudulent, and which many thought she won.
She said that hundreds of Belarusian volunteers have supported Ukrainians in their recent liberation of Ukrainian territory.
“As I speak, a Belarusian battalion is part of Ukraine’s counter-offensive chasing the invaders away. We all understand that the speed of changes at the Ukrainian front opens new opportunities for Belarus. And it’s moving so fast,” she said at the Warsaw Security Forum.
“We keep our fingers crossed for our military volunteers in Ukraine. Fifteen lost their lives already.” she said.
Russia is facing mounting setbacks in Ukraine as Ukrainian forces retake more and more land in the east and in the south — the very regions Russia has said it seeks to annex.
Tsikhanouskaya hailed the Belarusian partisans who carried out acts of sabotage early in the war on the railway system in Belarus to hamper the Russians in their assault on Ukraine, and said Belarusians would continue to oppose the war as they can.
“We are preparing our partisans, you know, to act decisively at this very moment. The acts of sabotage that took place in February and March can be repeated again, though people who are making these acts of sabotage can face death penalty,” she said.
