Report Suggests Top Military Commanders Tendered Resignations

Rzeczpospolita reports that Poland's Chief of the General Staff Rajmund Andrzejczak and Operational Commander of the Armed Forces Tomasz Piotrowski submitted their resignations to the Presidential Palace yesterday as part of their escalating conflict with Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak.

• The rift between the Defence Ministry and two of Poland's most senior military officials has been widening since the discovery of a Russian missile earlier this year which landed on Polish territory in December. The Minister sought to shift the blame for a failure to adequately address the incident onto the military commanders, but President Andrzej Duda stepped in as a mediator and managed to temporarily defuse tensions.
• Rzeczpospolita suggests that the conflict between the Defence Ministry and top military officials has been gradually escalating since then, with Blaszczak seeking to marginalise Andrzejczak and Piotrowski and reduce their role in operations such as securing the border with Belarus or evacuating Polish citizens from Israel. Furthermore, the commanders were reportedly frustrated with the use of the military for election campaign purposes.
• It is unclear if President Andrzej Duda will immediately accept the resignations due to their implications for national security and domestic politics. The simultaneous rotation at two most senior military posts would be unfortunate in the current geopolitical climate. Furthermore, it would deal a blow to the ruling party, which has made security the main theme of its election campaign, just ahead of this weekend's polls.