The Guardian: Polish military police raid NATO centre in Warsaw

Polish military police have raided a NATO-affiliated counterintelligence centre in Warsaw in the latest of a series of moves by the country's new rightwing government to consolidate its hold on power, according to The Guardian.

The raid took place at 01:30 am on Friday at the temporary offices of the NATO Counter Intelligence Centre of Excellence, The Guardian wrote.

According to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, senior aides of Antoni Macierewicz, the defense minister, accompanied by military police, entered the building using a duplicate key.

The centre's night staff called the director, Col Krzysztof Dusza, but he was prevented from entering. A defense ministry spokesman said Dusza had not responded to an order to step down from the post.

Any such change of management was supposed to have been a matter of consultation with NATO and the Slovak government, which is a partner in the centre. Neither NATO nor Slovak officials could confirm whether any such consultation had taken place.

Former Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told reporters: "Nothing like this has happened in the history of NATO, that a member state attacks a NATO facility."

The Slovak defense ministry said: "The Slovak side is following the situation in Poland very closely. Intensive consultations at various levels are currently ongoing. We expect a thorough clarification of the situation from our Polish partners."

A NATO official said the raid was "an issue for the Polish authorities," adding that the centre had yet to be accredited by NATO.

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