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A man who threatened and planned to attack Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was arrested, the country’s interior minister said Sunday.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński gave no details about the identity of the man nor the type of attack planned.
Security services in Poland have been on alert after police received information about a possible attack on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Poland has been on high alert following a series of school stabbings this week, as well as fears of a possible Russian hybrid attack to weaken Western support for Ukraine in its war against Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
“We take this matter extremely seriously”, said Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesperson for the minister overseeing Poland’s intelligence services. He said authorities considered there was a “high probability” the threats would be carried out.
Adam Szłapka, a spokesperson for the Polish government, told Polish media that Tusk learned about the threat first thing on Sunday morning. He said that even if officials do occasionally get threats, this one was “exceptionally concerning”.
Dobrzyński said that the Polish services were receiving an increasing number of various threats every month.
Three attacks at schools in Mazovia province in central Poland took place within four days this week, leaving one dead and many wounded, including children.
In September, Tusk warned about likely intensified hybrid attacks by Russia on NATO’s eastern flank.
He said Russia was planning strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, among them Poland, with the goal of weakening Western support for Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion. Moscow has denied any such plans.