Not only Poles serve in the Polish army. The Ministry of National Defense has released data

There are around 250 dual citizens serving in the Polish army, reports "Rzeczpospolita". Data provided by the Ministry of National Defense shows that they hold passports from 27 countries. As Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Bejda reported, eight of them have Ukrainian citizenship.

The Ministry of National Defence, in its response to the daily, emphasised that " possession of additional citizenship does not exclude the candidate from participating in the recruitment procedure for military service in the Polish Armed Forces".

According to the data provided by the ministry, there are currently around 250 soldiers and civilian employees with this status.

They hold passports from 27 different countries , including Germany , the United States , Ukraine , Belarus , Portugal , Sweden , Italy , Belgium , Pakistan , France , Great Britain , Syria , Burma and Greece .

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As the Ministry of National Defense emphasizes, detailed data constitutes classified information and cannot be made public. At the same time, it was noted that the percentage of people with dual citizenship is approximately 0.1%.

The topic of foreigners in the Polish army was raised by MPs Anna Gembicka (PiS) and Jarosław Sachajko (Free Republicans), who wrote a parliamentary interpellation about emerging signals regarding the alleged presence of Ukrainian citizens in the structures of the Polish Army.

At that time, the deputy head of national defence from PSL, Paweł Bejda , revealed that there are currently eight professional soldiers serving in the Polish Armed Forces (one officer and seven privates) who, in addition to Polish citizenship, also have Ukrainian citizenship .

As he explained, "these soldiers were called up under the provisions of the Act of 11 March 2022 on the Defence of the Homeland in the standard manner , without additional preferences or designation for service."

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They hold various positions, such as junior officer, gunner, mechanic, miner, driver and rescuer . "The scope of duties in the positions held do not differ from the scope of duties in other service positions," the deputy minister emphasized.

In addition, four people with Ukrainian citizenship currently work in the Ministry of Defense and in military units. They are employed as clerks and language teachers.