Politicians representing opposition groups have called the defense minister’s decision on declassifying documents of the defunct Warsaw Pact a “media operation”.
Defense minister Radoslaw Sikorski made the decision on the grounds that Poland never ratified any agreement speaking of maintaining secrecy clauses on the communist bloc’s military archives.
Meanwhile, former MOD head Jerzy Szmajdzinski of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) stated there are still too many legal doubts regarding the issue and the situation may adversely affect Poland’s foreign relations, especially regarding its eastern policy. He added, the move has been above all a propaganda gimmick of the new Law and Justice government and strictly a media affair.
Another former defense minister, Bronislaw Komorowski of the Civic Platform (PO), pointed out that so far nothing has been formally decided on making the Warsaw Pact documents public – in fact, minister Sikorski limited his declarations to announcing the creation of a special commission to deal with the matter. Komorowski said his party is not against opening the files, but voiced concern Poland may be perceived as a country which potentially holds inclinations not to observe international agreements.
Ryszard Czarnecki from the farmers SelfDefense (Samoobrona) stated confidently that neither Moscow, nor Washington would oppose making the Warsaw Pact archives available to the public, underscoring the right of Poles to know the facts from their recent history.
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