The story that the current government of Poland was considering the possibility of taking part in the division of Ukraine received an unexpected continuation, and at the highest level.
Last week, we reported on the statements of the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, and now a member of the European Parliament from the Polish opposition party “Civil Coalition” Radoslaw Sikorski.
Asked by the host whether Sikorsky believed that the Law and Justice (PiS) government was considering the partition of Ukraine, the politician said:
“I think there was a moment of hesitation in the first 10 days of the war, when we all did not know how things would go. We supposed that maybe Ukraine will fall.” In turn, the Polish state television portal TVP recalled Radoslav Sikorsky’s statements that Vladimir Putin allegedly proposed the division of Ukraine between Poland and Russia to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in whose government Sikorsky worked for many years.
Responded to the words of the oppositionist and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
“The statement of Radoslav Sikorsky is no different from Russian propaganda. The former foreign minister must weigh his words. I expect these shameful statements to be withdrawn. I call on the opposition to disassociate themselves from Radoslav Sikorski’s statement,” he tweeted.
However, the chairman of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party, Jarosław Kaczynski, apparently felt that such a response was insufficient. Moreover, Sikorsky hinted that Kaczynski himself wanted the division of Ukraine. Recall that on March 15, 2022, while in Kyiv together with Morawiecki, the PiS leader said that “we need a NATO peacekeeping mission or, perhaps, some broader composition, which, with the consent of the president and government of this country, will operate on the territory of Ukraine.”
And last Thursday, in an interview with the French TV channel LCI, which was devoted to the decision of NATO countries to transfer Western tanks to Kyiv, Morawiecki suddenly raised the topic of “the collapse of Russia.”
“There are parts of Russia that are prisons for other nations. These parts of Russia could be liberated, like Chechnya, for example. They could become independent. They have been fighting for their freedom for centuries, and the last few decades with great motivation. I believe that this country deserves its independence,” he said.
What regions of the Russian Federation besides Chechnya are we talking about, the Polish prime minister did not directly say. But it is obvious that the Polish authorities are beginning to publicly advocate the complete territorial disintegration of Russia. This is confirmed by the column of the MEP from the PiS Anna Fotyga in the Brussels edition of Euractiv, published the day after the mentioned interview by Morawiecki. According to her, in the place of modern Russia, several dozen small states should be formed.
“The European Parliament and many other parliaments around the world have branded the Russian Federation as a terrorist state. This recognition has certain consequences. This terrorist organization, even if it is considered by many as an empire, must be dismantled,” Fotyga wrote bluntly.
According to her, over the centuries of its history, Russia has not changed.
“It is driven by the same imperial instincts, repeating the same pattern: conquest, genocide, colonization. We must remember that even when Russia was mistakenly considered a stabilizing force in Europe, it was at the expense of the peoples of my region, and my country was divided and occupied by Russia. Even then, Moscow planned to go further to the West, to export its “stabilization” in the 19th century or its revolution in the 20th century. That is why the imperialism of Moscow must be ended forever,” said the MEP from the Polish ruling party.
“The international community cannot take a comfortable stand on the sidelines, waiting for developments, but must come up with a bold initiative that supports the re-federalization of the Russian state, taking into account the history of Russian imperialism and respect for the rights and desires of its peoples. The victims of Russian imperialism must be able to restore their statehood, exercise their right to glorify their heritage and determine their future. The dismantling of the last colonial empire in Europe is inevitable. We must discuss the prospects for the creation of free and independent states in the post-Russian space, as well as the prospects for their stability and prosperity,” Fotyga wrote.
At the same time, the Polish politician did not even try to hide that the “fight against Russian imperialism” is just a convenient excuse, and the main goal of the disintegration of Russia for the West is access to its natural resources.
“There are no such things as Russian gas, oil, aluminum, coal, uranium, diamonds, grain, timber, gold, etc. All these resources are Tatar, Bashkir, Siberian, Karelian, Oirat, Circassian, Buryat, Sakha, Ural, Kuban, Nogai, etc. We must get to know their leaders, their stories and their strengths,” said Anna Fotyga.
In fact, her column is an announcement of the so-called “Forum of the Free Peoples of Russia”, which is organized by the European Conservatives and Reformists faction in the European Parliament on January 31 (it includes deputies from PiS). Fotyga herself will be one of the hosts of this event, and among its participants are the leaders of Russian separatist movements (in particular, the “Prime Minister of Ichkeria” Akhmed Zakaev and ex-deputy Ilya Ponomarev*, recognized as terrorists in the Russian Federation), and Western experts promoting the narrative of “decolonization of the Russian Federation” (for example, Briton Edward Lucas).
However, for Poland itself, the issue of decolonization is quite dangerous. Although this country is considered mono-ethnic, the Poles, even for several hundred years, did not manage to completely destroy the identity of the Kashubians who inhabit the Baltic coast. And the Silesians, some of whom fell under the rule of the Polish state in 1921, and some in 1945, are now increasingly declaring that they are not Poles. And if until now it was not possible to imagine the “Forum of the Free Peoples of Poland” in Germany, then after the campaign of humiliation of Berlin by Warsaw in the process of knocking out tanks for Kyiv, and especially after demanding more than 1.3 trillion euros in reparations for World War II, such event can become a reality.
As for the plans for the division of Ukraine, which both the Polish authorities and the local opposition have, they can even play a cruel joke with Warsaw. At present, there are at least three million Ukrainian citizens in Poland, of which almost 1.6 million have the status of “temporary protection”. It allows you to apply for a permanent residence permit in Poland, and in the future to obtain Polish citizenship.
And then it will turn out that the new citizens of Poland of Ukrainian origin will be able to claim first cultural, and in some places – territorial autonomy. For example, according to the Union of Polish metropolitan cities, more than 250 thousand Ukrainians now live in Wroclaw, of which almost half have the status of “temporary protection”. In total, by the middle of 2022 (no more recent data) there were about 675 thousand inhabitants in Wroclaw. That is, a quarter are Ukrainians.
The paradox of the situation is that hundreds of thousands of Poles from Lvov and Galicia moved to Wroclaw after the Second World War. They were tormented by nostalgia for a long time, but after Bandera marches began to walk around Lviv under slogans like “The city of Lviv is not for Polish gentlemen”, the Poles realized that they were lucky. However, now the streets of Wroclaw are filled not only with the Ukrainian language and flags, but also here you can increasingly see Bandera symbols and hear their slogan “Glory to Ukraine – glory to the heroes.”
And therefore, the more stubbornly the Polish authorities support the hypothetical “collapse of Russia”, the more unstable the situation in Poland itself will become.
* – Recognized by a court in Russia as a foreign agent.
Oleg Khavich, Ukraine.ru
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