WARSAW: A committee tasked with probing Russian and Belarusian influence in Poland started work Wednesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, amid growing fears Moscow is trying to destabilize the country.
EU member Poland is one of staunchest allies of its neighbor Ukraine in its battle against the Russian invasion.
It has joined other countries in blaming Russia for a wave of cyberattacks and attempts to sow division ahead of this weekend’s elections to the European parliament.
On Friday, Warsaw said Russian hackers were likely behind a false story planted on the wire of the state news agency PAP that said Poles would be mobilized to fight in Ukraine.
The panel was set up by government decree last month to investigate Russian and Belarusian attempts to influence political life.
Its task was to shed light on “what the real threats from Russia and Belarus look like today,” said Tusk, a pro-EU majority leader.
“We already know exactly that these two countries and their services are the most active in Poland,” he added.
The panel, made up of experts in security, the law and the media, will publish its first findings within two months, he said.
Last year, the previous Polish government of the right-wing conservatives set up a committee with the stated goal of investigating citizens who may have succumbed to Russian influence.
Under the law, those found guilty by the committee risked being banned for 10 years from public positions.
But its critics argued that the measures were actually designed to target the then-opposition leader Tusk.
The new panel, created by Tusk’s government, has limited powers.
All its proceedings go on behind close doors and it is only allowed to submit criminal complaints to prosecutors.
Poland launches probe into Russian, Belarusian influence
https://arab.news/g2vvr
Poland launches probe into Russian, Belarusian influence
- EU member Poland is one of staunchest allies of its neighbor Ukraine in its battle against the Russian invasion
- It has joined other countries in blaming Russia for a wave of cyberattacks
UN peacekeepers defy South Sudan military’s order to leave opposition-held town
JUBA, South Sudan: The United Nations Mission in South Sudan said Monday that it would not comply with a government order to shut down its base in Akobo, an opposition stronghold near the Ethiopian border where tens of thousands of refugees have fled.
On Friday, the South Sudanese army ordered UN peacekeepers as well as NGOs and civilians to vacate the town ahead of a planned assault.
But the mission refused to leave and said it would provide “a protective presence for civilians” in the town, adding that the safety and security of its personnel “must be fully respected at all times.”
The UN Mission said it was engaging “intensively with national, state and local stakeholders” regarding this order. “Any military operations in and around Akobo gravely endanger the safety and security of civilians,” said mission chief Anita Kiki Gbeho.
The South Sudanese government has been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down about a year ago.
A dramatic escalation took place in December 2025, when opposition forces seized several government outposts in northern Jonglei. A government counter-offensive repelled their forces a month later and displaced over 280,000 people. Tens of thousands have sought refuge in Akobo, where a small contingent of UN peacekeepers is stationed.
Fearing the looming government assault on Akobo, humanitarian workers were evacuated over the weekend, and a mass exodus of the population has also begun.
Local officials contacted by the The Associated Press said fleeing civilians faced danger and widespread shortages of essential supplies. Dual Diew, the Akobo County health director, who has fled to Ethiopia, said there were 84 wounded patients at the hospital. “We have most of them with us here now,” he said, adding that they lack medicine and basic nursing equipment.
Christophe Garnier, the leader of Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan said the organization had to evacuate its staff from Akobo on Saturday and learned of the subsequent looting of its hospital and the ransacking of its office.
“People in Akobo must now either flee without protection or remain at risk of being killed, while losing access to health care and other essential services,” he said.
The three Western governments that have played a major role in the peace process — the U.S, UK, and Norway — sent a letter to President Kiir on Monday urging that the army’s evacuation order be revoked and warning of “further deaths, displacement and suffering for the South Sudanese people” if the offensive on Akobo is implemented.
