Poland's Foreign Ministry has pushed back against inaccurate reporting on a diplomat severely injured in Ljubljana, disputing both his identity and how the incident occurred.
Weekend reports claimed the head of the ministry's diplomatic security office fell from the third floor of a consular building beside the Polish embassy and was left in critical condition.
Spokesman Maciej Wewiór had previously told the Niezależna portal the man fell from a third-floor window, before issuing a corrective statement on X.
He confirmed a staffer in Ljubljana suffered a serious accident. "At this point, his state of health and the peace of his loved ones are most important. Please respect their privacy. Let's not add stress to the family by inventing sensationalist stories and disseminating false information, " he emphasized, promising clarification.
The accident took place during a private visit, with the employee staying at a colleague's embassy-linked apartment over the weekend. "He is not the head of the Office of Diplomatic Security, as some of the records stated, but an employee in one of the departments of this office," he emphasized. Claims that the man carried classified documents were also denied.
"The information that fell out the window is also untrue," he added, contradicting his own earlier remarks to Niezależna. Slovenian police described the person as having "from now unknown reason fell off the balcony and got worse at it". It remains unclear whether a translation issue or premature comment explains the discrepancy.
Slovenian police said they were notified late last Sunday of a serious injury to a Polish citizen visiting a diplomatic mission in Ljubljana, and remain in contact with Polish officials and the treating hospital.
Polish Parliamentary deputy speaker Krzysztof Bosak branded the situation "suspicious," demanding closer scrutiny.
Bosak stated: "If [a security employee] falls out of a window in a building and it turns out that they were on vacation and were carrying some kind of parcel, then it is no longer a case of mystery."
The incident comes against the background of major apprehension in Europe over a potential Russian military move to test NATO.
The clearest warnings came from Poland, one of NATO's most prepared countries on its eastern flank. Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a special address Thursday to the Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament, on the 87th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.
"According to intelligence assessments, the Russian plan also includes hybrid strikes using drones and missiles against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland," Tusk said.
Europe fears Putin could mobilize 300,000 troops as NATO airspace violations climbed from 18 last year to 60 this year, with Shahed and Gerbera drones increasingly active over Poland, Romania, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
