MIDDLE EAST EVACULATION. Warsaw scrambled to return home its citizens as tensions rose in the Middle East following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. Flights from UAE, Oman, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon returned almost 3,000 Poles. The Polish government felt the immediate need to evacuate nationals working and living in Qatar, which was under ballistic missile and drone assault.
LOT Polish Airlines supported Polish military planes. Government VIP flights were halted and the fleet redirected to evacuation. Military hospitals were placed on alert should returning citizens need medical care.
EU will co-finance the operation under its civil protection mechanism if Polish flights include other EU nationals.
POSSIBLE EPSTEIN-RUSSIA CONNECTION EXAMINED. Poland will investigate the late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Russian intelligence and their effects on Poland, according to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The U.S. Justice Department released millions of Epstein’s internal records, revealing his contacts to key business, education, political, and finance people before and after his 2008 prostitution plea.
A committee will probe Epstein’s Polish crimes, including Russian secret services complicity, Tusk added.
The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately address Tusk’s writings. The Russian Embassy in Warsaw took a while to react to an email.
“I do not need to tell you how serious the increasingly likely possibility that Russian intelligence services co-organized this operation is for Polish security,” he stated. “More leads, information, and commentary in the global press all point to Russian intelligence services co-organizing this unprecedented pedophilia scandal.”
Tusk added, “This can only mean that they also possess compromising materials against many still-active leaders.”
Moscow denies an Epstein connection. Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in December that the Epstein papers exposed Western elites’ duplicity in denouncing Moscow.
ATTEND BOARD OF PEACE AS OBSERVERS. Poland attended the first meeting of U.S. President Trump’s Board of Peace as an observer. Nearly 50 other groups were in attendance, including almost every invited country from NATO’s eastern flank.
Arab states made up the largest constituency at the meeting, said Poland’s representative Marcin Przydacz, head of President Karol Nawrocki’s international policy office. He said the main topics of conversation were the Middle East, especially the future of Gaza and how to stop new conflicts from starting.
“Poland took part in the discussions as an observer in a spirit of solidarity and shared purpose with its key partners and allies, said Przydacz. “There may come a time when we need our partners and allies to be active on our behalf,” he said, citing the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia’s aggression as reasons why Warsaw could not afford to distance itself from diplomatic forums.
Przydacz said Poland was not under any obligation to help financially or send troops to Gaza.
In addition to the board, Przydacz met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Przydacz was hesitant when asked if Poland might try to become a full member of the Board. He said it was still too early to tell if the group would last, pointing out that similar efforts started by previous U.S. leaders had failed in the past.
