Serious case. The leader of the NATO-EU multinational battle group has been dismissed and is the subject of a counter-intelligence investigation

The Polish Ministry of Defense said the investigation was aimed at examining the “personal security clearance” of Lieutenant General Jarosław Gromadziński and gathering new information about him. Warsaw declared that it notified its allies “in advance”, FT reports.

“There is no concern between us and the allies,” Polish Defense Minister Władyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told Polish news channel TVN24 on Thursday. He described the dismissal as a “serious matter” but insisted that the investigation had so far only been “a clarification process”, without elaborating on what led to it.

The Polish Ministry of Defense has listed various laws and reasons under which such a counterintelligence investigation can be launched. One of these is “classified information protection”. Gromadziński denied any wrongdoing.

“I believe that the inspection procedure initiated by the military counterintelligence service will end positively for me,” Gromadziński wrote on the X social network. During his 34-year career in the army, “I have always represented the uniform of a Polish soldier with dignity.” , he added.

He was appointed last June to lead Eurocorps, which is based in Strasbourg and was established in 1992 as a Franco-German battle group, which has since incorporated troops from other countries, including Poland. Recently, the Polish commander was also involved in supervising the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany.

Before heading Eurocorps, Gromadziński was the commander of Polish troops in Iraq and Syria. He also served in the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.