Prime Minister Tusk Accuses Russia of Fomenting Instability Amid Polish Constitutional Crisis

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia of seeking to foster instability in Poland by meddling in an escalating constitutional crisis surrounding the nation's Constitutional Tribunal.

The confrontation intensified after a faction of judges allied with Tusk's government suspended tribunal president Bogdan Swieczkowski, a conservative appointee of the former Law and Justice party, and deployed police to secure the court building. President Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist allied with the opposition, cut short an official visit to Africa, turned his presidential plane around, and personally intervened at the tribunal while denouncing the government's actions as a forcible takeover and unconstitutional coup.

Russian politicians, including Dmitry Medvedev, similarly criticized the moves as a coup, while opposition supporters and police clashed outside the building. Prime Minister Tusk also reported that Poland thwarted a possible provocation on the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad overnight.