Sławomir Sierakowski maintains Russia rigged Poland’s 2015 parliamentary elections, by helping Jarosław Kaczyński’s far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party unseat the governing Civic Platform (PO), a pro-EU party, which had presided over strong economic performance. Despite 25% GDP growth, huge reduction of unemployment and budget deficit during eight years in power, PiS defeated PO, and it was the first time that a single party won enough votes to govern alone since democracy was restored in 1989.

The governing Civic Platform has never recovered from a 2014 eavesdropping scandal that discredited high-profile government ministers. The author says it was operated by a "shady" businessman, Marek Falenta, who "hired two waiters to record private conversations in a restaurant frequented by politicians. These secret recordings fueled a scandal that forced almost all of the PO’s leadership out of government." Falenta is said to be at Moscow's bidding, because he owed "$26 million to a Russian firm" with close ties to Putin.

Since Antoni Macierewicz became defence minister, relations with Poland’s most important European allies: Germany, France, and the European Commission have soured. In November 2015, the government led by Beata Szydlo "ordered a raid on a NATO-affiliated counterintelligence center that had been established to track Russian intelligence efforts." The purchase of 50 Caracal helicopters from France was cancelled, "leaving Poland without a crucial military capacity to this day."

The author also says that earlier this year Macierewicz "fired 90% of the military’s General Staff and 82% of its General Command, and formed a new military force whose leadership consists of pro-Kremlin activists and NATO critics." A journalist, who delved into Macierewicz's past, learned that the defence minister have ties with Russians who are close to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and with Americans who have done business with Russia's underworld.

It is in Putin’s interest "to sow discord in the West, especially within the EU," as there is no one who could further "his aim of EU disintegration more effectively than the current Polish government." Poland may have a strong economy, but it is uncertain whether it "could be a powerful ally to France and Germany in a post-Brexit Europe that is working toward deeper integration." EU leaders will not let Poland have its way as long as it is a EU member.

It is unclear to what extent Kaczyński acts "in ways that benefit only Russia." He always holds Russia responsible for the 2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia that killed his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski. The crash of the Tupolev aircraft, operated by the Polish air force, killed all 96 people on board, including Kaczynski’s wife, Maria Kaczynska, and many senior military and political figures. A new Polish commission to investigate the crash said that the black box recordings recovered had been “manipulated and shortened,” with several seconds of audio missing.

While Russia is said to have sabotaged the plane, former prime minister Donald Tusk, now president of the European Council, has been accused by political opponents of intentionally botching the initial investigation. In 2012, Kaczyński told Tusk in parliament that he bore “100 percent of the responsibility for the catastrophe." Dressed in black since his twin brother's death, Kaczyński has never stopped believing that Lech was assassinated by Russia. As politics in Eastern Europe is still shrouded in secrecy, no one knows whether the PiS is really an anti-Putin party. But in the face of pressure from EU to respect the rule of law and observe EU values, Kaczyński might choose to return to Putin's fold.