Spies, politicians intelligence notes...and the oil sector

Right before the Sejm vote on Friday, Roman Giertych, the leader of Polish Family League (LPR), demanded information on the links of senior politicians with Russian spies. The turmoil was caused by two secret notes from the State Security Office (UOP) that were made after Poland's richest man Jan Kulczyk met with Russian secret agent Władimir Ałganow in Vienna last year. The first note says that the meeting touched upon taking over the Gdańsk Refinery by the Russians. UOP sources claim Kulczyk promised to help in the enterprise, and declared he has some kind of influence on "the first one." The question is what did he mean by this? Many opposition politicians univocally back the comments of a Civic Platform (PO) deputy, "There are no doubts, he did not mean the Pope, nor the U.S. president, but Aleksander Kwaśniewski." Kulczyk said that he had no idea that Ałganow was a Russian spy and thought he was a businessman. The second note, written by the head of intelligence Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, clearly states that Ałganow said Wiesław Kaczmarek and Maciej Gierej took a $5 million bribe from the Russians. The Parliamentary debate on the issue was so sensitive that it was held behind closed doors so that the secret notes could be fully presented to the deputies. (Rzeczpospolita, October 16-17, pp. A1, A2, A3) D.W.