International

Russia decides who gets awards in Poland?

27.11.2009 12:47

Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, can decide who Poland’s president is allowed to give awards to, it has been revealed.

Internationally renowned Russian journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek was to receive the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland - one of the nation’s highest awards - from Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski. But President Medvedev put a stop to the award ceremony.

Podrabinek wrote in a letter published in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta that on 20 November, while he was taking part in the “Paths to freedom” international conference in Warsaw, he was invited to the Belweder Palace for the Orders of Merit of the Republic of Poland ceremony, given to famous dissidents from post-Soviet countries.

During the ceremony it turned out that the award would be delayed because President Dmitry Medvedev had not given his consent.

“It is shocking [that there are bilateral agreements for giving orders]. Therefore, in spite of my gratitude to Poland’s President for the honour, I must refuse the award,” wrote Podrabinek.

The Chancellery of the President of Poland explained that some countries, including Belarus, Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy and Canada, require consent from their authorities if another state wants to award their citizens.

Therefore, the Chancellery asked the Foreign Ministry to get agreement from the Russia’s president. The Chancellery informs that President Lech Kaczynski intended to award seventeen activists who contributed to the democratic transformation in Poland and the East-Central Europe. Fourteen of them received the honours on 20 November and three will receive them later as Poland is waiting for their country’s agreement. (mg/pg)

Comments: 37 Add new comment

Roman

27/11/2009 15:03:37

Is it any surprise that Russia does not want anyone who has had anything to do to with the promotion of greater democracy, freedom and liberty to be given an award. In the not to distant past such people were rewarded with a trip to the Gulags.
The present Putin regime would like nothing more then a return to these good old days.

Maciej Skiba

27/11/2009 15:36:59

I ditto Roman's comment, just like to add, this should go even beyond Russia. This agreement should be terminated with all countries.

27/11/2009 17:21:26

If he had his way Putin would have gladly taken up where Stalin had left off - he will be back in front at some point in the future while holding almost all of Europe hostage with gas deliveries

Karl Naylor

27/11/2009 17:46:05

Russia is not the Soviet Union. Putin is not Neo-Stalinist. Stalin was Georgian and the Soviet Union was a multinational Empire. Conflating Russia with the Soviet Union is sometimes done by hard right nationalists posing as lovers of democracy.

Just because revanchist Poles like Roman & Skiba are itching for a ratcheting up of conflict with Russia and to advance Poland as the dominant force in Central Eastern Europe does not mean this crude propaganda be taken seriously.

Maciej Skiba

27/11/2009 19:04:23

Karl nobody is ratcheting up conflict, were just stating facts. Russia's democracy is a sham, Russia uses gas as a political weapon (Russia wants to monopolize EU's supplies), Russia is undermining western efforts on Iran, to put it simply we have to admit that Russia's and the West's interest don't converge. What's good for Russia (or at least in the Russian mindset) is bad for the EU, and whats good for the EU in Russian mindset is bad for Russia.

Roman

27/11/2009 19:21:31

Karl,
The Nationalism of Russia today and the Stalinism of the previous Soviet Union are simply flip sides of the same coin. Just because you say they are different, doesn’t mean that they truly are. Sure they differ in name, and they may show the world a different veneer, however their essence is the same. Granted, the current regime has not yet descended to the same depths of depravity that the Soviet Union had, however given enough time and the right circumstances, it would not be difficult to imagine such a thing happening.

As far as I’m concerned actions speak louder then words.
Putin's Russia has been engaging in just the sort of activities that the former Soviet Union was famous for.
Allow me to cite just a few examples:
- Revising history to suit their agenda (Reviving Stalin as a hero and a glossing over of his crimes, idolizing the NKVD/KGB, downplaying the Soviet Union’s role in starting WW2 and instead apportioning blame to the victims)
- Resorting to extreme measures to silence both internal and external critics (poisonings of Yuschenko and Litvinenko, the murder of countless free thinking Russian journalists)
- Concentrating control of media, communications, and economic resources in the hands of Putin and his cronies thereby ensuring that there can be no effective political opposition.
- Building a cult of personality around Putin. Essentially replacing Stalinism by something like “Putinism”.
- Use of both military and economic levers to exert pressure on weaker states in order that Russia may bend them to their will. (Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine, etc..).

The last thing Poles want is a conflict with Russia.
However this does not mean that we should simply keep our heads in the sand and allow ourselves to be bullied by a resurgent Russia.

Maciej,
As usual your logic is impeccable.

Maciej Skiba

27/11/2009 19:54:25

Roman,

Likewise, I really enjoy reading your posts, its not often I meet people who say exactly the same thing I am thinking.

Leszek

28/11/2009 02:59:54

While it is true that today's Russia and the USSR are not one and the same, it was the RFSSR that dominated the USSR even if the leaders were not Russians.

Russia has traditionally had an "iron fist in the iron glove" approach to diplomacy. The invasion of Georgia on such miniscule pretext is merely example of the long-standing Russian view that Russia has the strength, therefore the right, to do anything she wants in her sphere of influence.

Britain has had that view in the past. It is common among states that have been powerful for a very long time. It is particularly dangerous in 2 situations: a) when there is no balancing power and b) when real power is weakening. In the first it is because no-one can stand up effectively. In the second because that power needs to restore itself to it's previous (rightful?) position.

Any guesses where Russia fits in here?

Expert

28/11/2009 11:56:50

The US uses the international banking system as a political weapon all the time. I don't see Maciej complaining about that. At any rate there's an oversupply of the natural gas on EU markets due to economic crises.

Note that the article didn't say a word about Lukashenko's failing to give his permission for Polish president to give an award to a Belarusian "dissident." Is Poland now trying to reach out to him or what?

Karl Naylor

28/11/2009 07:32:04

One way of countering the repetitive and one dimensional Polish neoconservative creed here is to invite comparisons.

Those who think Georgia is some beacon of liberty and an outpost of freedom compared with Russia are as deluded as those who believed Soviet Communism in the 30s was a promising humanist experiment.

The aggression in Georgia was started by Saakasahvili who rained down death and destruction on Tskhanvili in August 2008 using grad rockets. This is a documented fact.

It is accepted by the EU report and HRW, whilst critical of Russia, also has criticised Georgia for war crimes. Saakashvili started the war to shore up his crumbling domestic support base.

Not that he ever had much support anyway. The Rose Revolution of 2003 was a carefully choreographed designer revolution funded primarily by the USA which gave Saakashvili a staggering 96% of the vote.

Saakashvili's regime in Tblisi is worse than Putin's. Targetted assassins of opponents, mass corruption, rigged elections, the itimidation of ethnic monorities and far right nationalism are routine features.

As well as censorship, closing down critical media ( heard of Imedi TV have we ? ) and the police using live ammunition on protesters as in November 2007. The police trained and equipped partly by NGOS like Soros's Open Society Foundation.

The idea that only Russia wants some 'sphere of influence' is more Orwellian doublethink.

Georgia is a US vassal state where millions of dollars have been used to promote Saakashvili because it is a pipeline protectorate.

The BTC pipeline is an essential reason for the West including Georgia in its sphere of influence and oil has been the major factor in the Wests interest in carving out a chain of clients in ex-Soviet space.

The idea that Russia is involved in some New Cold War, as proposed by Edward Lucas, is a complete distortion: its the USA primarily that is advancing its power aggressively in a bid for global hegemony.

By contrast Russia is reacting to the West and to the USA which also uses oil and gas as a strategic lever: only they have launched illegal wars of aggression like the one in Iraq to acheive that.

By comparison the number of people killed by the Russian incursion into Georgia is minimal compared to the figure of over one million Iraqis who have died as a result of Bush's war.

One championed by neoconservatives such as Radek Sikorski who is a member of the American Enterprise Institute ( members inc Perle, Wolfowitz etc ) and who like most leading Polish stateman supports the aggressive expansion of US power into Eurasia.

Poland's shame in supporting Iraq, its transformation from a Soviet satellite into a US one, is in continuity with the politics of being a willing model pupil of larger Imperial states.

The fact that Poland has been an uncritical and unconditional vassal state of the USA is not even popular with the majority of Poles, one reason for the continuous attempt to bait Russia.

After all, it is the assumption of Polands elite that only by playing on exaggerated fears of Russia in 'public diplomacy' can the sheep be moved into supporting an expansionist role for NATO in Ukraine & Georgia.

In which Poland would become somewhat like Israel, a frontline military democracy in the crusade for US global hegemony and control over the 'World Island' of Eurasia.

Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Polskie Radio S.A. With regards to this, Polskie Radio S.A. does not accept any liability for any content published. Any comments containing vulgar language will be deleted in accordance with Polish law.

News from Poland

International

Russia decides who gets awards in Poland?

MOST POPULAR