In 1926 Gen. Radola Gajda, a right-wing Czechoslovak army officer, was given the provisional appointment of chief of the army staff while a new cabinet was being formed following recently concluded elections. In May of that year a military coup in neighboring Poland, press denouncements of Gajda in left-leaning newspapers, and the approach of the Sokol congress – which some felt might be used by Gajda to stage an event similar to Mussolini's March on Rome – combined to create heightened political tension in Czechoslovakia. The general did not publicly dispute the swirling rumors that he was plotting against the government as military regulations prevented him from issuing statements to the media of his own accord; this contributed to the air of uncertainty. Adding to the complexity of the situation, the USSR – which sought to settle an old score with Gajda – began to secretly feed the Czechoslovak government fabricated information that made Gajda appear to be a Soviet agent.