Finland demands that Poland revise claims concerning Finnish armoured vehicles

Finland has expressed concern about the reputation of Finland and the Finnish defence equipment manufacturer Patria Industries in Poland.
The Finnish Ambassador to Poland, Jan Store, expressed the government's concern to Defence Minister Aleksander Szczygło in Warsaw last Friday after the publication of a Polish report which criticises the armoured vehicles manufactured by Patria.
"The Ambassador brought out that the report contains misunderstandings, errors, and groundless claims that put both Patria and Finland into a negative light. The public report can be read all over the world and can make the activities of the company more difficult", said embassy official Arja Makkonen in Warsaw on Tuesday.
The Patria Group is 70 per cent state-owned.
One chapter in the nearly 400-page report is dedicated to the assessment of Patria vehicles. The official report was made public recently by Polish President Lech Kaczyński. According to Polish media reports on Tuesday, friction caused by the report has led to diplomatic tension between Finland and Poland.

The report was written by the head of Polish military counter-espionage, Antoni Macierewicz , and his aides. It describes the activities of the old military intelligence service WSI, which was disbanded in the autumn. Poland felt that the WSI represented Moscow's interests in Poland.
Eight pages in the report are dedicated to the vehicle that the Poles called Rosomak, or "Wolverine". Nearly four years ago Poland ordered 690 of the Finnish-made AMVs (armoured modular vehicles) for its armed forces, most of which were to be assembled at Polish factories. The deal, worth more than EUR 1 billion, was the largest single sale for the Finnish defence equipment industry in recent history.
The Polish armed forces already have about 130 of the vehicles in use. Some of them are to be sent to Afghanistan along with Polish NATO forces.

The Polish report calls into question the way that the deal between Finland and Poland emerged. It said that Patria did not adhere to its agreement to change the dimensions of the vehicles.
Contrary to claims in the report, Finland insists that none of the AMVs have sunk in any tests, and that nobody has suffered burns at a Polish factory during their assembly. Patria CEO Jorma Wiitakorpi launched an information campaign in Warsaw on Tuesday in the name of Patria and its Polish partners, aimed at "correcting the mistakes in the report".
"We are surprised that Antoni Macierewicz did not contact us when such an official report evaluating us was being written", Wiitakorpi noted.

At the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Undersecretary of State Markus Lyra denied that there were any diplomatic tensions between Finland and Poland.
On Thursday last week he discussed the Macierewicz report and Patria with Andrzej Szynka, the Polish Ambassador in Helsinki.
Lyra said that the report was not the main topic of their discussion. Szynka had come to the ministry to meet with another official.
"I expressed Finland's view that we feel that it is unfair and unfortunate that Patria's name should come forward in the report in such a negative connection", Lyra said.
Lyra did not say what Szynka's answer was, but he said that the discussion had been "constructive".

Lyra denied that ties between Finland and Poland would have been affected by Poland's use of its veto in the European Union against a partnership agreement between the EU and Russia. The veto came after Russia banned imports of Polish meat, after which Poland vetoed the PCA talks.
Source:www.hs.fi