Poland refuses to restore special border agreements with Russia

03.08.2016
Poland

Warsaw does not want to renew the special conditions stipulating movement to and from the Kaliningrad region

Official position

Poland has explained its refusal with the claim that Russia “has not eliminated issues related to security.” This was stated by Polish Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Jaroslaw Zielinski, but what exactly he had in mind is unknown. Meanwhile, the restrictions affecting the border with Ukraine have already been lifted as of today.

Restrictions

On July 4th, Poland temporarily cancelled existing border agreements because of the NATO summit in Warsaw from July 8th-9th and World Youth Days from July 20th-31st. On the same day, Russia took similar decisions affecting Poles.

The previous agreement on local border movement was signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers in December 2011. It is in effect exclusively in the border area and entitles Russians arriving by land transport to Poland to stay for 30 days. Over the course of half a year, their period of stay in the country cannot exceed 90 days.

Warsaw's Russophobia

In fact, the current Polish leadership is pursuing an exclusively Russophobic policy in favor of their masters in Washington. This explains their special zeal in all matters that are somehow connected with Russia. Due to such policies, however, Poland itself is the one suffering direct damage, just as Polish farmers are suffering from Moscow’s counter-sanctions. Following any unfriendly measures taken by Warsaw, Moscow merely introduces the same measures.

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