Man arrested in Poland after planned attack on Prime Minister Tusk
A man has been arrested in Lower Silesia who is suspected of planning an attack on Prime Minister Tusk and Defence Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Suspect arrested in Lower Silesia – attack on Tusk averted
A man has been arrested in Lower Silesia who is accused of planning an attack on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. This is reported by news.at citing a spokesman for the coordinator of the secret services, Jacek Dobrzynski.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski confirmed the arrest on X. Government spokesman Adam Szlapka told broadcaster TVN24 that Tusk had already been informed on Sunday morning. "This signal was considerably more disturbing than similar signals in the past," Szlapka said. The head of government had nevertheless continued to work normally.
On Sunday, Kierwinski dampened speculation about a foreign background on TVP Info: it was "probably still too early at this stage" to speak of a "foreign connection". The suspect appeared rather to be "a man from very radical groups" who had formed "very radical contacts with various persons" via the internet.
Dobrzynski warned journalists that the security authorities received "month after month, year after year ever more threats and disturbing messages of all kinds". With the current information on the possible attempted attack, there was "a high probability that these threats could actually be carried out".
Tusk has been Polish head of government again since December 2023. He recently warned of threats from Russia – including drone and missile attacks – against countries supporting Ukraine. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of "sabotage"; Moscow denies these accusations.
Poland is an EU and NATO member, one of the most important supporters of Ukraine and a central hub for military and humanitarian supplies. The country sees itself threatened by Moscow because of its proximity to the theatre of war and is significantly increasing its military capacities.
This is not the first security-related incident of this kind: in August, a 23-year-old was arrested who was accused of inciting the murder of high-ranking Polish politicians. In 2024, Tusk also reported receiving threats himself following the attack on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
In parallel, Poland is already officially on high alert because of a series of knife attacks at schools. During one of these attacks on Thursday, a school janitor was killed.
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)