TASS, May 22. /TASS/. The missile that fell inside Poland late last year (its wreckage was found in April near Bydgoszcz in north central Poland) posed no threat to Poland, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Marcin Ociepa said on Polsat TV on Monday.
"We are not talking here about a missile that was aimed at Poland against a specific target on Polish territory," he said. "What we are talking about is a missile that was supposed to deceive Ukraine's missile defense system, but due to some malfunction, changed its route and ended up self-destructing."
"In other words, there was no threat nor any targeted attack," Ociepa added. He likened the search for the missile wreckage on Polish territory to attempts to find a needle in a haystack.
Ociepa denied Polish media reports that there had been a conflict between the Defense Ministry and top army brass.
"There is no dispute [over the missile] between the ministry and the generals. There can't be any dispute. The prime minister and the defense minister are not trying to be generals, while the generals are not trying to be politicians," he said.
In December, Polish air defense radars detected an unidentified object in Polish airspace, but the country’s air defenses failed to intercept it due to bad weather. In late April, the wreckage of an unidentified military air object was found in the woods 15 kilometers from Bydgoszcz. The Polish authorities later claimed that they were fragments of a Russian X-55 air-to-surface missile. An investigation was launched; the probe is classified.
Poland's opposition parties have demanded the resignation of Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who, in turn, made a number accusations against several top Polish army officials.