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Polish foreign ministry uncovers 2008 memo suggesting ‘pro-Russian’ policy

PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea 24.01.2017 13:34
Poland’s foreign ministry has uncovered a memo from 2008 which suggests that the then-government was pursuing a pro-Russian foreign policy.
Photo: PAP/Maciej Chmiel Photo: PAP/Maciej Chmiel

According to Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, the note marks the “beginning of the abandonment of a pro-Ukrainian foreign policy for a pro-Russian one” by the government of former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Tusk, the current head of the European Council, founded the Civic Platform (PO) party, now in opposition.

The seven-page memo which was published by the PAP news agency on Tuesday, bears hand-written notes by then-foreign minister Radosław Sikorski.

Sikorski, who marked his comments with the abbreviation “RS”, made notes such as: “Very good stuff. I accept”, “For use in the [government] roadmap”, suggesting that the memo was forwarded to the office of the prime minister.

The memo contains information that “the Department of Eastern Policy suggested a closed discussion within the foreign ministry on Polish foreign policy towards Russia and Ukraine, in order to outline concrete steps in policy in this area”, PAP said.

“The authors had no illusions that this would succeed,” Waszczykowski told the agency in an interview, “but acknowledged that pro-Russian attitude will be some kind of instrument – a trick – to use against the West, wanting in this way to get a higher reputation in the West.”

The memo, which was classified until November 2015, was concluded with a handwritten note by then-ministry-secretary Cezary Król, who wrote: “Dear Minister, enclosed is an outline of the policy of the Republic of Poland towards Russia and Ukraine.”

Speaking to the public TVP broadcaster, Paweł Pudłowski, an MP for the opposition Nowoczesna party, said that the “memo shows that there were different variables [being considered at the time], perhaps they focused on a friendship with Russia at the expense of Ukraine.”

“I believe that politics is a difficult art of combining different relationships. That was a time when Poland was trying to have a new beginning with Russia. We all know how it ended. We should ask the former head of the foreign ministry [Radosław Sikorski], or the former prime minister [Donald Tusk],” Pudłowski said.

In a statement on Twitter, Radosław Sikorski wrote that the memo was compiled in 2008, “before the Russian-Georgian war”, when “Russia was still trying to sign a free trade agreement with the EU”.

He added despite the note, foreign policy under his ministry took a different turn mere months later.

“In 2009, we convinced the whole of the EU to join the Eastern Partnership, which Putin considered the greatest geopolitical challenge to Russia,” Sikorski wrote.

Polish-Russian ties soured following the crash of the Polish presidential plane in Smolensk, western Russia, in April 2010. Russia has still not returned the wreckage of the plane, despite repeated calls from Warsaw. The crash killed all 96 people on board, including President Lech Kaczyński. (rg)

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