RADOSŁAW SIKORSKI (Bydgoszcz, 1963) is the Foreign Minister of Poland. After heading the students’ strike committee during the unrest in Bydgoszcz in March 1981, he was granted political asylum in Great Britain in 1982–89. After graduating from Oxford, he became a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Angola, and covered the Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe. As Deputy Minister of National Defence in 1992, he initiated Poland’s NATO accession campaign. In 1998–2001 he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Honorary Chairman of the Foundation for Assistance to Poles in the East. He was elected senator for Bydgoszcz in 2005 and served as Minister of National Defence in 2005–2007. He was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland on 16 November 2007. Sikorski is the author of several books, including Dust of the Saints, The Polish House: An Intimate History of Poland, and Strefa Zdekomunizowana [The Decommunised Zone].