“I don’t know if Ukraine will regain Crimea. It is also special for historical reasons. Historically, it was mostly Russia’s responsibility,” President Andrzej Duda said in an interview with Robert Mazurek and Krzysztof Stanowski for “Kanał Zero.” The statement caused a wave of reactions and the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, responded to it. After the attacks, politicians from the current ruling coalition, among others, PiS MP Radosław Fogiel defended the head of state. President Duda himself has once again clearly expressed his position on both the illegal occupation of Ukrainian territories by Russia and the joining of Crimea.
President Andrzej Duda was a guest of Robert Mazurek and Krzysztof Stanowski on “Kanał Zero”. The first of the journalists mentioned asked the head of state whether he really believed that Russia could be forced to return its territories to Ukraine: the Donbas and Crimea, which had been illegally occupied by Moscow for ten years.
I think Russia needs to be pushed here. We must not allow Ukraine to surrender, nor must we allow the West to surrender in this clash, because in this way we will recognize the right to the rebirth of Russian imperialism, which we must never recognize , because this will attack imperialism.
– the president pointed out. When Mazurek asked him if he believed that Ukraine would regain Crimea, he admitted that he did not know and that it was difficult for him to answer this question.
I don’t know if he will regain Crimea, but I believe he will regain Donetsk and Luhansk
– he emphasized.
I don’t know if Ukraine will regain Crimea. It is also special for historical reasons. Historically, the country was under Russian control most of the time
– said Andrzej Duda.
Ambassador: Crimea is Ukraine. It is and remains
The Ukrainian ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, responded to this statement on the X website on Saturday:
Crimea is Ukraine: it is and will remain.
He added that the basis is international law.
Russia’s temporary occupation of Crimea is a war crime for which Russia will be punished. The occupation of Crimea is our shared duty and obligation with the free world. We will do it without a doubt. We believe and work together
– he pointed out.
Crimea is a peninsula between the northern part of the Black Sea and the western part of the Sea of Azov. According to international law it belongs to Ukraine. In 2014, as a result of an armed attack, the Russian Federation occupied Crimea, established the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and then, as a result of a controversial referendum, illegally annexed it to its territory.
Historically, the peninsula has changed hands for centuries and was part of Ukraine, the USSR, the Ottoman Empire or the Tatar state, among others.
Anti-Putin neophytes in action
Since Russia launched large-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, many people have revised their opinions about Putin and the threat he poses. This also applies to the supporters of the current ruling coalition, whose previous version in 2007-2015 pursued a policy towards Russia that was, to say the least, careless and naive. Many supporters of the current government were delighted with the “reset” policy of Donald Tusk and Radosław Sikorski (today again Prime Minister and again head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the meetings between the leaders of Poland and Russia, Vladimir’s gesture Putin who, after the Smolensk disaster, hugged Prime Minister Donald Tusk over the wreckage of the government tupolev. PiS President Jarosław Kaczyński, who, like his brother, is the late President Lech Kaczyński has been warning against Putin’s imperial ambitions for years; both the PO-PSL government and its supporters have ridiculed and ignored them. PSL, which was then part of the ruling coalition with PO, directly threatened in materials distributed in villages that PiS rule would mean a ‘war with Russia’.
All these people from ‘Kaczyński’s Russophobe’ woke up in 2022 to the fact that Putin is a criminal and a murderer, and Russia is a threat, and they started… identifying the Russian satrap with the then ruling PiS, which they hated, even though Poland was under the rule of this group in the first days of the war, it was one of the leaders in support to Ukraine.
The whole world watched with delight the friendship between the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, and the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. The whole world apart from Russian trolls and our native anti-Putin neophytes, who in 2012 were afraid that ‘Russophobic Kaczyński’ would start a war with Russia, and later read two books by Tomasz Piątek, probably without ever by Anna Politkovskaya or Gari having heard Kasparov, and considered themselves experts on Russian influence. And since they noticed that Putin was evil, they started to associate him with the PiS they hated.
Storm on the Internet!
And it was precisely these people who felt the most outraged by President Andrzej Duda’s statement. Both politicians associated with the current ruling party, which implemented the ‘reset’ policy towards Putin’s Russia, and supporters of the current government.
Mr. President @AndrzejDuda, I appeal: correct your words about Crimea as soon as possible. In the name of the Polish raison d’etre.
Some KO politicians, like Krzysztof Brejza, in holy indignation themselves, proved that the president had something different in mind than what they were trying to insinuate.
Shame. Today, A. Duda says that nothing is known about Crimea, as it was “mostly under Russian control.” In August 2022, he claimed that Crimea is Ukraine, “just like Gdańsk is part of Poland”
Member of Parliament Dariusz Rosati, today one of the leading ‘democrats’ and a member of the Polish United Workers’ Party from 1966 until its dissolution in 1990, was particularly angry.
Yet more proof that Duda is a terrible mistake. PiS voters, open your eyes.
Read what Duda says below. And this man is trusted by 46% of Poles. Do we really need to be a nation of suicides?
And finally, the real icing on the cake of the platform outrage: lawyer Roman Giertych – a man who, in the first months of the war, when Polish aid to Ukraine was on the lips of the whole world, and the Polish Prime Minister with the Vice Prime Minister and heads of government of other countries in our part of Europe were the first foreign leaders since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine. They visited Kiev, he developed conspiracy theories that they did it to… carry out the plan to divide Ukraine hatched by Jarosław Kaczyński and/or Mateusz Morawiecki together with Putin and Orban. However, the theory of the current KO parliamentarian was not new, but merely an update of the ‘bogeyman’ that had been known for years from Russian propaganda.
If the decisive factor for nationality is the time when a certain area belonged to a certain country, then I would like to remind Mr Duda that there are cities in our country that in their history have belonged to Poland for a shorter period of time than to any other country. country… What an abysmally stupid statement!
Fogiel responds to Twardoch
However, the president’s statement also infuriated people who show more common sense on certain issues than politicians pursuing their agenda and their most fervent voters. I am talking about the writer Szczepan Twardoch.
President Andrzej Duda, in an interview for Channel Zero, said a lot of funny things that had no meaning, but he also said one unacceptable thing: that we don’t know for sure about Crimea because “the country was under Russian control for a long time.” The president said this without answering the question – the question was “does Ukraine have a chance to win back Crimea?” – but that’s not why it’s an outrageous statement. Did the president longer check who was responsible for Wrocław and Szczecin? You can discuss this at your aunt’s birthday party, or even on a podcast if you’re an analyst or publicist, but that you can’t say when you are head of state. Such words resonate. Another gesture that forms the legacy of the worst presidency since 1989
Law and Justice MP Radosław Fogiel responded to Twardoch’s submission.
Everything was fine, but PAD said something completely different. He did not say “we are not sure” about Crimea, but he directly responded to the question of whether Ukraine would regain Crimea by saying he did not know. Below is this excerpt
When asked about both Crimea and Donbas, the answer is that “Russia needs to be pushed. Ukraine must not surrender and the West must not surrender.” The rest of the statement contains a justification for why it is not known – because, for historical reasons, Russia’s resolve on this issue may be very strong. This is not a denial of the nationality of Crimea
– he added in the next message.
To the statement of one of the Internet users who accused the parliamentarian of manipulating the president’s statement, MP Fogiel replied:
Manipulation? Because I pointed out exactly a specific segment where the President answers a question he allegedly didn’t answer? And my comment is that the rest of the statement contains a justification for why it is not known – because, if only for historical reasons, Russia’s resolve on this issue may be very strong. This is not a denial of the nationality of Crimea
The president speaks out
President Andrzej Duda himself has once again expressed his position on Russia, Ukraine and the illegal occupation of Ukrainian territories by the Putin regime.
My actions and position on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine were and are clear from day one: Russia violates international law, is an aggressor and an occupier. Russia’s attack on Ukraine and its occupation of internationally recognized areas of Ukraine, including Crimea, are a crime
– emphasized the head of state in a message on the X platform.
This war cannot end with a Russian victory. Russian imperialism must be stopped, defeated and blocked for the future. Ukraine must win because this war must be won by the Free World. We all stand shoulder to shoulder for a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine against aggression and brutal imperialism!
– wrote Andrzej Duda.
It is worth noting that the longer the war lasts, the more often experts, foreign leaders and diplomats, and journalists wonder whether Ukraine will actually succeed in regaining all the territories illegally occupied by Russia, including Crimea. It must be admitted that, in addition to unimaginable cruelty, Putin also shows enormous determination. Last year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with Politico: “Ukraine’s attempt to reclaim Crimea would cross a ‘red line’ for Putin, which could lead to an unpredictable response from Russia. ” The same Blinken, as well as the entire US government, clearly emphasizes that Crimea is Ukrainian, and the decision to try to retake it belongs solely to Kiev itself.
READ ALSO: President Duda explains his statement on Crimea. “Russia is violating international law. “The occupation of Crimea is a crime.”
Among other things, we do not remember any attacks: for Secretary of State Blinken after his statement of February 2023, but he is actually allowed because he is not from the ‘bad PiS’. And he’s not the “bad Duda”. What, the ‘evil Duda’ accompanied President Zelensky almost until the last moments before the Russian aggression? Whatever!
aja/PAP, X, Youtube: @KanalZeroPL, Politico
Source: wPolityce