Poland Drops Army Oath Link to Soviets

WARSAW — The Parliament today unanimously adopted a new Polish military oath that removes a reference to serving in an alliance with the Soviet Union.

The new oath was recommended by the government and Poland’s National Defense Ministry. The government has said the change will not affect relations with the Soviets.

An outlawed opposition peace group, Freedom and Peace, had long criticized the previous oath, charging it represented an affront to Polish sovereignty.

The government has said the change was merely a matter of updating antiquated language. A brief statement by the state-run press agency PAP said the new oath was adopted unanimously.

Until now, military inductees promised to guard peace in “brotherly alliance with the Soviet army and other allied armies.” The new oath contains no reference to the Soviet Union.