Russia and Poland must work to improve their bilateral relations because current tensions and animosity must not be considered normal, says Maciej Gdula, a Polish Sejm lawmaker of The Left party and a member of the parliamentary commission on international relations, TASS reported.
“In my opinion, of course, we should work on the development of Russian-Polish relations. I do not favor escalation of the [political] course or of such politics, in which the Russian-Polish tensions are used as some kind of political fuel,” he said. “I am definitely not an advocate of viewing Russia as an eternal enemy of Poland, that the relations between the two countries are at their normal level now and that this certain animosity, tensions, conflicting interests are a norm. This should not be the case.”
According to the lawmaker, there are several issues that create these tensions and put Russian-Polish relations at their current state.
“This is, on the one hand, the historical policy and the issue of speculation about World War II events; on the other hand, it is Ukraine and its territorial integrity,” Gdula said.
“If we talk about historical issues, I advocate aspiration for truth, representation of the World War II events the way they really were,” he noted, calling to remember both the “Stalin’s Katyn tragedy” and the fact that “without the USSR there would have been no victory over Nazi Germany.”
“Without the sacrifice of the Soviet Soldiers, Hitler would not have been defeated, the holocaust would not have been stopped,” he said. “The history of the War is complicated, but, for example, talks that the USSR is equally responsible for the World War II as Nazi Germany is, in my opinion, does not bring us closer to the truth,” Gdula said.
According to the Polish lawmaker, Poland and Russia must look for opportunities to build relations in the fields far from politics.
“Maybe, when there is the understanding that the current policy harms our relations, we will find ways to build relations besides politics. I know that it is difficult at this moment, that everything is tied to politics and is treated in accordance with the political conjuncture. But it is possible to restore normal relations. They do not necessarily have to be warm and allied, but they could at least be satisfactory,” he said.
“Building bridges between organizations, scientists, people of culture could become a way to somewhat ease the political tensions. But we cannot avert it entirely,” the lawmaker added.
