Polish President Andrzej Duda declared from Lithuania that sanctions on Russia should remain due to the Russian government’s actions in Ukraine.
Duda was in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, to attend a symbolic funeral ceremony for the participants of the 1863 January Uprising in partitioned Poland against Tsarist Russia.
Duda emphasized that the ceremony is meant to honor the heroes of several Central European nations who had opposed the Tsarist Russia “oppressor”. He added that the event is also important for strengthening Polish-Lithuanian friendship.
The Polish president underlined that, along with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, they believe that the sanctions imposed on Russia due to their occupying of territories in Ukraine should be maintained.
“This is a situation which no one in Europe can accept and which we should never accept, as there is nothing worse in modern Europe than changing borders by force. This is something that has been happening in Europe again following 2008, and we cannot permit that or even silently approve it,” Duda declared.
He commended the good relations between Poland and Lithuania, and pointed to the funeral ceremony of the 1863 uprising fighters as proof that Polish-Lithuanian relations are “as good as they have been in a long, long time.”
W wileńskim Pałacu Prezydenckim trwa spotkanie Prezydenta @AndrzejDuda z Prezydentem Litwy @GitanasNauseda.
Jutro, Prezydenci wezmą udział w pogrzebie Powstańców Styczniowych, których szczątki zostały odnalezione w 2017 roku. #ŻegnamyBohaterów1863 #JanuaryUprising pic.twitter.com/5MvZQbP3FV
— PL1918 (@PL1918) November 21, 2019
Duda also invited Nauseda to Poland to celebrate the 610th anniversary of the 1410 Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in which Polish-Lithuanian forces defeated the German Teutonic Order next year.
The Polish president said he and Nauseda also discussed the Polish minority in Lithuania and the Lithuanian minority in Poland, as well as common infrastructure investments, energy cooperation, security issues, military cooperation, and the situation in Ukraine.
