Poland and Russia plumbing new depths in troubled relationship
Poland and Russia are plumbing new depths in their troubled relationship. First a diplomatic row erupted after the mugging of Russian diplomats' children in Warsaw. Then followed a series of incidents in which Polish embassy staff and a Polish journalist were beaten up by unidentified attackers in Moscow. But the roots of the conflict appear to go much deeper than these events.
Pawel Reszka, a correspondent of the major Polish daily Rzeczpospolita, was beaten up according to a similar scenario as in earlier attacks on Polish embassy staff in Moscow. He says he did not provoke his perpetrators and may have been followed.
"I was coming back from shopping when I was attacked by four or five men. They hit me in the head and started to kick me when I fell to the ground."
The series of beatings has made Poles fear to walk in the streets of Moscow alone, while the Polish embassy stepped up security measures. Poland's ambassador Stefan Meller delivered a note of protest to the Russian foreign ministry and the Polish diplomacy head Adam Rotfeld warned that bilateral relations were getting from bad to worse.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski took long to react, drawing criticism from the opposition for foot-dragging. Eventually he phoned President Vladimir Putin calling for energetic steps to identify and punish the organizers and perpetrators of the attacks on Poles. Kwasniewski describes Polish-Russian relations as difficult, but he believes that they can be improved.
"As to whether there is the will on both sides, I believe that it does exist. We will get rid of senseless stereotypes and of radical sentiments."
A call for an energetic probe into the assaults was made by the European Commission. But its spokesman Stefaan de Rynck made it clear that Brussels does not intend to step in:
"That's clearly a bilateral issue between Poland and Russia. Yes, we have heard, and we are aware of attacks against Polish diplomats and journalists in Moscow. We regret all forms of criminal activity and expect an appropriate investigation to happen on these incidents."
President Kwasniewski and the opposition leaders in Poland believe, however, that the EU should play a role in this row with Moscow and that a uniform policy towards the union's eastern neighbors must be forged. Poland was supported in its appeals these days by the German Christian Democrats leader, who is slated for the chancellor's office. Angela Merkel declared in Warsaw that cooperation between Paris, Moscow and Berlin, realized above the heads of Poles, must end.
"Russia is the Union's large neighbor and we need good mutual cooperation. But the Union also needs a uniform eastern policy. Poland is a member of the Union and NATO therefore such issues as eastern policy or construction of a pipeline under the Baltic Sea bed must be consulted with Poland."
This is an important signal says Krzysztof Bobinski, political analyst from the "Poland -the Union" periodical.
"This is absolutely crucial. If Angela Merkel is saying that Schroeder's policies towards Russia have been wrong, that he's been going to the sauna with Putin too often, and she's not going to be doing that, that's fine, because that creates a basis on which Poland can talk to the Germans about Russia."
Krzysztof Bobinski says that Russia is playing a game with Poland.
"Basically the Russians want to show Poland its place. At least the Russian government, the Russian leadership doesn't really accept the fact that all of our countries have now left this sphere of influence and are now quite independent of them. I think the Russians feel that we are rather insignificant countries which need to be shown - taught a lesson from time to time. The Russians really want to have relations with the Americans, with the Germans, with the French and with the English."
And this is exactly why Poland has been calling on the EU for solidarity and for a common eastern policy to prevent Russia's attempts to marginalize it.
