Polish government orders protection of journalist investigating Russian influence

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s interior minister has ordered the security services to ensure the safety of an investigative journalist, Grzegorz Rzeczkowski, who has just published a book on Russian influence in Poland. Earlier this month, Rzeczkowski had notified prosecutors of threats made against him.

Rzeczkowski is a reporter for the Polish version of Newsweek and director of the Centre for Disinformation Research at Collegium Civitas, a university in Warsaw. His latest book, published last week, is titled Putin’s Spies: How The Kremlin’s People Are Taking Over Poland.

On Tuesday morning, the spokesman for Tomasz Siemoniak – who is both interior minister and the minister in charge of the security services – announced that, “in connection with signals about threats to Grzegorz Rzeczkowski, minister Siemoniak ordered the Internal Security Agency to take steps to ensure his safety”.

Two weeks ago, Rzeczkowski announced that he had notified prosecutors regarding threats he was receiving in connection with his new book.

“Recently, attempts have been made to force me to back down from describing the actions of people with ties to Russia,” he wrote at the time. “They took the form of openly formulated threats to launch a dirty campaign of slander and even destroy me.”

The journalist pledged that he would “not bow to such pressure” but also called on “the relevant state authorities [to take] appropriate actions” because “I cannot rule out that my health and life are at risk”. Rzeczkowski also said that “an attempt was made to intimidate my publisher”.

Speaking today to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Rzeczkowski noted that Siemoniak’s order for the ABW to ensure his safety does not necessarily mean that he will receive protection. “The security services will do what is appropriate.”

He added that he now expected the authorities to provide him with “information on whether my safety is actually at risk, whether my sense of a threat is justified[,]…whether the people who threatened me are planning or have planned to take action to physically attack me or my loved ones”.

Neither Siemoniak’s office nor the ABW have publicly commented on what specific actions they will take or what threats against the journalist they have identified.

Rzeczkowski’s previous work has focused not only on Russia’s activity in Poland, but also on its alleged links to the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which was in government from 2015 to 2023 and is now the main opposition. PiS strenuously denies any such links.

Speaking last week to Polskie Radio about his new book, Rzeczkowski said that it shows “how far and deep [Russia’s] tentacles reach into the sphere of politics – not only in PiS circles, but also in the current government”.

Since last December, Poland has been ruled by a coalition made up of parties ranging from left to centre right and led by Donald Tusk, who serves as prime minister.

Both PiS and Tusk’s camp have regularly accused the other side of acting in Russia’s interests. Last year, the former PiS government established a commission to investigate Russian influence in Poland. This year, Tusk’s government then set up one of its own.

Last December, 14 members of a Russian spy network that had planned to derail a train carrying military aid to Ukraine were handed prison sentences by a Polish court.

This year, the Polish government has identified Russia as being behind a series of acts of sabotage, including a fire that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre.

Last week, the foreign minister ordered Russia to close its consulate in Poznań in response to what he says are acts of sabotage and cyberwarfare being carried out by Moscow in Poland.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Marcin Stepien / Agencja Gazeta