The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, said the Polish opposition and previous Civic Platform (PO) government had bent the knee to Russia and supported Germany’s appeasement of Putin.
Speaking at a rally in Siedlce in eastern Poland, Kaczyński accused the opposition of “lying through their teeth on Russia.” He dubbed it the “lie offensive of the opposition” and an attempt by the liberal politicians to change their colors.
Kaczyński told his audience about the previous government’s record on Russia.
“They bent the knee to Russia, they backed German policies all the way. Policies that were disastrous for Poland, Ukraine, and the whole of Europe. Now, they are pretending this never happened. Today, they pretend that black was white and that they are good patriots,” said Kaczyński.
The ruling party leader recalled a speech made by the previous prime minister, Donald Tusk, in 2007 in the Polish parliament. Tusk said that Poland wanted “dialogue with Russia as it is.” According to Kaczynski, he understood what Russia was like.
He also accused Tusk of not having reacted negatively on a visit to Moscow in 2008 when Putin proposed a carve up of Ukraine with Polish participation, and of failing to insist that the Katyn massacre to be classified as genocide.
Kaczyński further pointed to the multitude of visits by Russian officials in Poland, even to discuss cooperation between security forces and electoral law. He said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed Polish ambassadors in Warsaw and asked whether visits by Polish election officials to Russia were to learn how to conduct fraudulent elections.
