Belarus' State Security Committee (KGB) has denied allegations that a recent scandal in which a Polish diplomat posted in Minsk was recalled to Warsaw after an alleged drunken row was a scheme by the Belarusian security agency.
"The KGB has nothing to do with this incident. [The allegations to the contrary] may be considered one more unsuccessful attempt of an official who got himself into a mess to justify himself with his employer by laying the blame at somebody else’s door," says the KGB.
Witold Misiak, security chief at the Polish Embassy, was recalled home after an anonymous web video that showed him drunk and ran subtitles saying he had got involved in a fight and lost official documents and a BlackBerry smartphone that was to be used for secret conversations.
Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza said that in the evening on December 13 Misiak had dinner at a restaurant in Minsk with diplomats from various countries.
A restaurant CCTV tape showed him getting up from his table around 11 p.m. and slumping on another table. Misiak confirmed he was the man on the tape but claimed he had had some substance put in his glass that made him lose control.
Gazeta Wyborcza branded the video as an attempt by Belarusian secret services to discredit the Polish diplomatic service.
However, comments to the article called Misiak "a drunk" and "a clown and not a security specialist," and insisted that he "be thrown out of the Foreign Ministry."
One reader said, "There he was sitting with other diplomats and somebody threw something into his glass?"
