Poland only exists as a state thanks to the Soviet Union, which liberated its lands from fascists, and it should be more grateful to its Russian neighbor, the chairman of Russia’s lower parliamentary chamber Vyacheslav Volodin has claimed.
In remarks that evidence a further decline in Polish-Russian relations, Volodin accused Poland of losing its historical memory and called for the country to be punished for its hostility towards Russia by being made to compensate Moscow for rebuilding the nation in the aftermath of World War II.
“Poland has forgotten that its liberation from the fascist invaders came at a high price for the Soviet people,” the parliamentary head said in a statement.
He added that “a third of the current Polish territories became part of Poland after World War II only thanks to our country,” and he accused Poland of “abandoning common history and desecrating the memory of our soldiers.”
The provocative remarks also included a request for the Polish government to “return the territories acquired as a result of World War II” and to “reimburse our country for the funds spent on it in the war and post-war years.”
He estimated a fee of around $750 billion, considerably more than Poland’s annual GDP.
Furthermore, Volodin revealed that a Russian parliamentary committee would begin debating a potential ban on Polish trucks entering Russia on Monday, a move he claimed would strangle Poland financially and result in substantial job losses.
Responding on Monday, Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki congratulated the Russian propaganda machine, which he claimed “has been perfect in distorting the facts for hundreds of years.”
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He added that the Soviet Union had been responsible for widespread damage across Poland, and Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk revealed the Polish government is preparing a report to quantify the losses caused by the Soviet regime.
“It must be as solidly substantiated as the report on the damage caused in Poland as a result of the attack by Nazi Germany,” he said, as cited by the PAP news agency.
Poland has positioned itself as one of Kyiv’s closest allies following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year, refusing to acknowledge any brokered peace agreement that doesn’t result in a comprehensive Russian defeat and a return of all contested territories to Ukraine.
The country has provided substantial humanitarian, financial, and military aid to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration, and hostilities in Poland against Russians have been commonplace.
Last March, Poland expelled 45 Russian diplomats it claimed were working for Moscow’s intelligence services. Meanwhile, earlier this month Polish activists refused to allow Sergey Andreev, the country’s Russian ambassador, to lay flowers at the Soviet military cemetery in Warsaw to mark Victory Day, a holiday to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
