DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Poland detains two Russians for distributing Wagner Group propaganda
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Two Russians accused of disseminating propaganda on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group in two Polish cities have been arrested and charged with espionage, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Monday. They fly-posted around 300 leaflets in Krakow and Warsaw, which were among around 3,000 pro-Wagner items of propaganda in their possession, the press office of the minister responsible for coordinating special services said in a statement. "Both were charged with espionage, among other things," Kaminski wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Mercenaries of the Wagner Group have served as shock troops in Ukraine and are expanding their presence in West Africa. ($1 = 101.3925 roubles)Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Toby Chopra and John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Wagner, Mariusz Kaminski, Kaminski, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Pawel Florkiewicz, Toby Chopra, John Stonestreet Organizations: WARSAW, Wagner Group, Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: Krakow, Warsaw, Ukraine, West Africa, Russian, Belarus, Poland

☆ Poland to vote in privatisation referendum, likely alongside October election
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"For us, the voice of ordinary Poles is always decisive," PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in a video posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. He said that the first referendum question would be: "Do you support the sale of state-owned enterprises?". "The Germans want to embed Tusk in Poland to sell off common property, his background shows it directly," Kaczynski said. Another state-run broadcaster, Polskie Radio 24, reported that there would be four referendum questions in total. Poland's lower house of parliament will deal with legislation concerning the organisation of the referendums at its sitting on Aug. 16-17.

Persons: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Kacper, Donald Tusk, Tusk, Kaczynski, Marcin Kierwinski, Alan Charlish, Toby Chopra Organizations: Justice, National Army, REUTERS, Law, Former European, PO, Polskie Radio, Polskie, Thomson Locations: Warsaw, Poland, Germany

☆ Factbox: Resistance to green policies around Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki/File PhotoAug 10 (Reuters) - Europe faces growing pushback against policies to address climate change and protect the environment, causing its green agenda to start to fray as severe heatwaves and wildfires rage. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month warned of climate policies that "unnecessarily give people more hassle and more costs", days after his ailing Conservatives unexpectedly clinched a local election after opposing charges for the most polluting vehicles. Riding a wave of protests against the government's environmental policies, it unexpectedly beat the conservative VVD party in regional elections in March. POLANDPoland's government, long conservative on environmental policies at home and facing elections in October, has gone a step further by suing Brussels. The row has helped propel the far-right Alternative for Germany to second place in the polls.

Persons: Kuba, Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Mark Rutte, Kate Abnett, Sarah Marsh, Gloria Dickie, Anthony Deutsch, Angelo Amante, Pawel, Susanna Twidale, William James Organizations: REUTERS, Union, EU, BRITAIN, Conservatives, Farmer, Movement, Justice, Greens, Thomson Locations: Gryfino, Poland, Europe, ITALY, Italy, BRITAIN Britain, Britain, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, Brussels, GERMANY, Germany, Berlin, Bremen, London, Amsterdam, Rome, Warsaw

☆ Poland plans to send up to 10,000 soldiers to border with Belarus
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A sign is seen near the Bug River at the Poland-Belarus border, near Kostomloty, Poland July 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki/File PhotoWARSAW, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the Border Guard, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Thursday. "About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, of which 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve," the minister said in an interview for public radio. Deputy interior minister Maciej Wasik said on Wednesday that Poland would send 2,000 additional troops to its frontier with Belarus. The head of the Border Guard, Tomasz Praga, said earlier this week that 19,000 people have tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally this year, up from 16,000 last year.

Persons: Kuba, Mariusz Blaszczak, Blaszczak, Maciej Wasik, Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Tomasz Praga, Pawel, Bernadette Baum Organizations: REUTERS, Border Guard, Defense, Thomson Locations: Poland, Belarus, Kostomloty, Belarusian

Poland's government, which faces October elections, is even suing Brussels over climate policies. Britain has already quickly gone from being a leader on the world stage to looking quite weak on green policies, he said. CITIZENS, BUSINESSESEurope's green policies are still more credible than U.S. ones, given see-sawing between electoral cycles in the United States, some analysts said. Rows over green policies have propelled right-wing populist parties to second place in both Dutch and German polls. "Otherwise citizens might start to feel that climate policy is always financially overwhelming and bad, and that sentiment is then exploited by populists."

Persons: Timm Reichert, Virginijus Sinkevicius, Sinkevicius, Anna Moskwa, Nathalie Tocci, Mats Engström, GREEN, Bob Ward, Ward, Rishi Sunak, Rob Jetten, Nina Scheer, Simone Tagliapietra, Tagliapietra, Kate Abnett, Sarah Marsh, Gloria Dickie, Anthony Deutsch, Angelo Amante, Pawel, Susanna Twidale, William James, Alexnder Smith Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, Reuters, European People's Party, European Council, Foreign, United States, Grantham Research, London School of Economics, Political, Climate, Energy, Democrats, Thomson Locations: Gruenberg, Germany, EU, BERLIN, BRUSSELS, Netherlands, Brussels, Europe, United States, Grantham, India, China, Britain, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Rome, Warsaw

☆ Poland to send 2,000 troops to reinforce Belarus border
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A sign is seen near the Bug River at the Poland-Belarus border, near Kostomloty, Poland July 20, 2023. Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus started military exercises near the border this week, and Lukashenko said several times that he is restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland. "This reinforcement will be not by 1,000, but by 2,000 soldiers," Maciej Wasik told PAP. Belarus started military exercises near the border this week.

Persons: Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Lukashenko, Maciej Wasik, Mariusz Blaszczak, Wasik, Alan Charlish, Peter Graff Organizations: REUTERS, Border Guard, Security, Defence, Thomson Locations: Poland, Belarus, Kostomloty, WARSAW, Belarusian, Warsaw

☆ Wagner fighters seek to unsettle NATO's eastern flank, Polish PM says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Fighters from Russia's private Wagner mercenary force are being moved close to NATO's eastern flank to destabilise the military alliance, Poland's prime minister said on Thursday. Wagner soldiers have begun training with the Belarus national army, prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 troops closer to the border. "We need to be aware that the number of provocations will rise," Mateusz Morawiecki said after meeting Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in eastern Poland. "The Wagner group is extremely dangerous and they are being moved to the eastern flank to destabilize it." Nauseda said the number of Wagner fighters in Belarus could be higher than 4,000.

Persons: Wagner, Mateusz Morawiecki, Gitanas Nauseda, Nauseda, Vladimir Putin, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Wlodarczak, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: WARSAW, Belarus national, NATO, Thomson Locations: Poland, Belarus, Russian, Kaliningrad, Baltic, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine

☆ Poland arrests Russian ice-hockey player on spying charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, June 30 (Reuters) - Poland has detained a Russian professional ice-hockey player on spying charges, prosecutors said on Friday, describing him as the 14th person that had been arrested from one espionage network. The player for a first division Polish team was taken into custody in the southern Polish region of Silesia, prosecutors said in a statement. "Russian spies are falling in one by one!" Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow had demanded an explanation from Poland over its arrest of Russian citizens, state news agency RIA reported. In April it said it was introducing a temporary 200 metre exclusion zone around its Swinoujscie Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal, citing concerns about Russian espionage.

Persons: Zbigniew Ziobro, Maria Zakharova, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Felix Light, Peter Graff Organizations: WARSAW, Polish, Prosecutors, Twitter, Russian Foreign Ministry, Thomson Locations: Poland, Russian, Polish, Silesia, Ukraine, Moscow, Warsaw

☆ Poland was not hub for Nord Stream sabotage, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, June 22 (Reuters) - There is no evidence to suggest that Poland was used as a hub for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, Polish prosecutors said on Thursday, rejecting a report that a team that blew up the pipelines may have used Poland as an operating base. The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported this month that German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as its base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September. "The statement that 'Poland was a logistics hub for the operation of blowing up Nord Stream' is completely untrue and is not supported by the evidence of the investigation," the Polish National Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. Citing people familiar with the voyage, it said the sabotage crew placed deep-sea explosives on Nord Stream 1 before they setting the vessel on a course towards Poland. Polish prosecutors said that the Andromeda had sailed to Poland from the German island of Ruegen and spent 12 hours in a Polish port.

Persons: Alan Charlish Organizations: WARSAW, Street Journal, National Prosecutor's, Rzeczpospolita, Thomson Locations: Poland, Nord, Baltic, Ruegen, Polish

☆ Poland's Kaczynski rejoins government ahead of tough election
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, June 21 (Reuters) - Poland's ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski returned to the cabinet as deputy prime minister on Wednesday, taking up a more prominent role ahead of a closely fought election expected in October or November. The other deputy prime ministers resigned and will continue as ministers. Kaczynski previously served as deputy prime minister from October 2020 till June 2022, and also headed Poland's security committee. Although PiS is ahead in most opinion polls, a question mark remains over whether it can secure a parliamentary majority. Divisons in the ruling coalition have also re-emerged over Poland's relations with Brussels, after the EU withheld funding over rule of law concerns.

Persons: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Kaczynski, Andrzej Duda, PiS, Pawel Florkiewicz, Karol Badohal, Alan Charlish, Gareth Jones, Emma Rumney Organizations: WARSAW, Law, Justice, European Union, PiS, Thomson Locations: Republic, Warsaw, Brussels

☆ Polish president backpedals on law on undue Russian influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, June 2 (Reuters) - Poland's President Andrzej Duda said on Friday he would propose amendments to a law on undue Russian influence he signed this week, reacting to criticism that it could result in banning opposition politicians from public office. Duda on Monday signed into law the bill proposed by the ruling party to let a panel investigate whether opposition parties allowed Poland to be unduly influenced by Russia. A spokesman for ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) suggested the amendments could be acceptable for the party. "The amendment proposed by the president as a result of social pressure does not change anything. The entire law establishing this illegal kangaroo court should end up in the trash," Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, leader of the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), wrote on Twitter.

Persons: Andrzej Duda, Duda, Monday, PiS, Jarosław Kaczynski, Rafal Bochenek, Wladyslaw Kosiniak, Anna Wlodarczak, Andrew Cawthorne, Emelia, Angus MacSwan Organizations: WARSAW, Constitutional, U.S . State Department, European, Justice, Polish Peasants ' Party, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Poland, Russia, Polish

☆ Poland to ramp up child benefit payments from 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, May 14 (Reuters) - The Polish government will increase monthly child benefit payments to 800 zlotys ($193.13) per child from 500 zlotys from the start of 2024, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said on Sunday. The family support program called "Family 500 plus" is a flagship project of the Law and Justice party (PiS), which was introduced in 2016. "... from the new year, 500 plus will be 800 plus," Kaczynski told a convention before parliamentary elections due this autumn. Child benefit payments currently cost the state budget over 40 billion zlotys a year. The next election convention of the Law and Justice party is to be held in June.

☆ Poland says object likely to be observation balloon entered airspace from east
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, May 13 (Reuters) - An unidentified object that entered Polish airspace from the direction of Belarus was probably an observation balloon, Poland's defence ministry said on Saturday on Twitter. NATO-member Poland is on alert for infractions of its airspace as war rages in neighbouring Ukraine after incidents in November and December in which missiles landed on its territory. Captain Ewa Zlotnicka, press officer of the Armed Forces Operational Command, told broadcaster TVN 24 the object entered Polish airspace on Friday evening. The ministry said radar contact with it was lost near Rypin, a town in north-central Poland. (This story has been refiled to clarify that the missile found in April was not the one fired in November, in paragraph 6.)

☆ 'Military object' found in Poland probably not fired from abroad, broadcaster reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSZAWA, April 27 (Reuters) - A military object found in a Polish forest was probably not fired from abroad and most likely belonged to the Polish army, private broadcaster RMF FM reported on Thursday. The defence and justice ministries did not identify what had been had found near the city of Bydgoszcz, beyond describing it as a "military object". RMF said that its sources had noted that fighter jets were repaired near the site, which was near an airport used by the military. "The Military Department of the District Prosecutor's Office in Gdansk, under the supervision of the National Prosecutor's Office, initiated proceedings regarding the remains of an aerial military object found in a forest several kilometres from Bydgoszcz," Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Twitter. The military police, regional police, the mayor of the village of Zamosc, the Gdansk prosecutor's office and a government spokesman all declined to comment further.

☆ Microsoft says it launches data centre in Poland
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WARSAW, April 26 (Reuters) - Microsoft has launched a data centre in Poland, the company's President for Europe, the Middle east and Africa (EMEA) said on Wednesday at the European Economic Congress in the southern city of Katowice. Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel FlorkiewiczOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SummarySummary Companies Three EU states have banned Ukrainian grain, food importsRomania looks set to follow suitUkraine also trying to salvage Black Sea grain dealWARSAW, April 18 (Reuters) - Poland agreed on Tuesday to lift a ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain and food products, but Ukraine said a wartime deal allowing it to safely ship grain from Black Sea ports was still under threat. Failure to resume exports into eastern European countries or secure an extension of the Black Sea grain deal would trap large amounts of grain in Ukraine, hitting its exports and causing further economic problems for Kyiv as it battles Russian troops. Large quantities of Ukrainian grain have been trapped by bottlenecks in eastern and central Europe as low global prices and demand mean grain cannot easily be sold on. BLACK SEA GRAIN DEAL IN DOUBTUkraine, which relies on grain and food sales for a significant slice of its gross domestic product, also has concerns about the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered between Moscow and Kyiv by Turkey and the United Nations last July. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss the Ukraine Black Sea grain export deal with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York next week, Russia's U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

KYIV, April 17 (Reuters) - Kyiv will aim to secure the re-opening of food and grain transit via Poland as "a first step" at talks in Warsaw on Monday, Ukraine's agriculture minister said, after Poland and Hungary announced bans on some imports from Ukraine. Poland's ban on grains, in effect since Saturday evening, also applied to transit through the country. Officials have said it is meant to keep grain transport from entering the Polish market. Deliveries to Hungary accounted for around 6% of Ukraine's farm exports, he said, adding that Ukrainian food transit via Hungary and Slovakia was unaffected. Talks between Ukraine and Poland were due to start in Warsaw around 12:00 p.m. (1000 GMT), Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said on TVP Info.

☆ Polish government bans grain and food imports from Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Pavlo PalamarchukWARSAW, April 15 (Reuters) - The Polish government has decided to ban imports of grain and other food from Ukraine to protect the Polish agricultural sector, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczyński, said on Saturday. "Today, the government has decided on a regulation that prohibits the entry, importation of grain into Poland, but also dozens of other types of food (from Ukraine)," Kaczyński said during the PiS party convention. The list of these goods will be included in the government regulation, and there are goods "from grain to honey products, very, very many things," he added. But it is the duty of every state, every authority, good authority in any case, to protect the interests of its citizens," Kaczyński said. Kaczyński said Poland was ready to start talks with Ukraine to settle the grain issue and the Ukrainian side had already been notified of the decisions of the Polish government.

☆ Poland aims to set up Abrams tank service centre for Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, April 12 (Reuters) - Poland aims to become the service centre for U.S.-made Abrams tanks in Europe, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday during a visit to the United States. "I want a service centre for Abrams tanks for the whole of Europe, for maintaining their battle readiness, to be located in Poland. "We are also striving for the production of depleted uranium ammunition cores for the Abrams to be located in Poland." Poland, a close ally of the United States within NATO, has ordered 250 state-of-the-art Abrams battle tanks in addition to 116 modernised ones. "...I have confirmation that by June at the latest 14 Abrams tanks will be delivered to Poland...", he said, adding that these would replace Soviet-era tanks his country had donated to Ukraine to help fight off Russia's invasion.

☆ Central Europe's policymakers double down on hawkish message
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

As central Europe's central banks were faster than their major peers to hike rates, they had also been expected to lead the way in easing. That message was underlined on Thursday when February data showed industrial wage growth in the double digits. "We do not expect a rate hike," it said after the Czech policy meeting last week. CEE inflation pushing past a peakThe Polish central bank also struck somewhat hawkish tones at its news conference on Thursday after holding rates steady. Romania's central bank left rates unchanged on Tuesday and said inflation may come down faster than previously thought.

☆ Ukraine pushes for Western warplane 'coalition'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] A MiG-29 and F-35 planes are parked on a tarmac during a NATO media event at an airbase in Malbork, Poland, March 21, 2023. During a visit to Warsaw on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said Poland had been instrumental in getting Western allies to send battle tanks to Ukraine and he believed it could play the same role in a "planes coalition". MACRON IN CHINAEuropean Union executive head Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to discuss Ukraine during talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday. The U.S. and NATO have said China is considering sending arms to Russia, which Beijing has denied. 'SHOULDER TO SHOULDER'Polish President Andrzej Duda said Warsaw was working to secure additional security guarantees for Ukraine at a NATO summit to be held in Lithuania in July.

☆ Polish agriculture minister resigns amid anger over Ukrainian grain imports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, April 5 (Reuters) - Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk resigned from his post on Wednesday amid rising anger among farmers over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices. Kowalczyk said he decided to quit the position due to the European Commission's decision to extend duty free imports for Ukrainain grain until June 2024. Polish farmers had called for the introduction of tariffs. "As it is clear that this demand will not be met by the European Commission at this point, I decided to resign from the post of agriculture minister," Kowalczk said. The prime ministers of five states including Poland wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday to demand action on Ukrainian agricultural imports.

☆ Polish central bank leaves main interest rate unchanged
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, April 5 (Reuters) - Poland's central bank held its main interest rate at 6.75% on Wednesday, as expected, and said it believes weakening gross domestic product growth, together with already implemented rate hikes, would help gradually curb inflation. The central bank's Monetary Policy Council now hopes that the rate hikes it has already implemented will see price growth return to single digits before the end of the year. Central bank governor Adam Glapinski has previously said that he expects inflation to fall to single digits around the beginning of September, paving the way for interest rate cuts in the fourth quarter. Investors are now waiting for more insight into the central bank's thinking when Glapinski holds a news conference on Thursday. On Tuesday, Romania's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 7.00%.

☆ Polish central bank governor hopes to cut rates in fourth quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, March 9 (Reuters) - The National Bank of Poland could cut interest rates in the fourth quarter of 2023, Poland's central bank governor said on Thursday, adding that he expected inflation to fall into single digits around September. "I hope that it will be possible to cut rates in the final quarter (of this year), but this is my opinion," Adam Glapinski told a news conference. On Wednesday, Poland's central bank slightly lowered its inflation forecasts for the coming three years, reinforcing expectations that interest rates will remain at current levels after it left them unchanged for a sixth consecutive month. Glapinski said he expected inflation would peak in February at around 18.5% and would then fall to single digits at the turn of August and September. Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Koper, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Polish c.bank governor Glapinski to hold press conference on Thursday
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WARSAW, March 6 (Reuters) - Polish central bank governor Adam Glapinski will hold a press conference at 1400 GMT on Thursday, the bank said on Monday. Poland's Monetary Policy Council (MPC) meets to decide on interest rates on Tuesday and Wednesday. Reporting by Pawel FlorkiewiczOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "Florkiewicz"

25 mentions found