Polish presidential candidate calls for normalization of relations with Russia

According to RIA Novosti on May 13, Polish presidential candidate Grzegorz Braun spoke out in support of normalizing relations with Russia.

The first round of Poland's presidential election is scheduled for May 18. Incumbent Polish President Andrzej Duda will not be able to run in the election as he is serving his second consecutive term in office.

“I am a supporter of normalization and reasonable policies towards neighboring countries,” candidate Braun said when commenting on Polish-Russian relations during the election debate.

At the same time, he reminded another presidential candidate, Karol Nawrocki, representing the Law and Justice party, that Nawrocki had recently called for severing diplomatic relations with Russia and at the same time wanted to return to Poland the wreckage of the Tu-154 plane, which crashed near Smolensk in 2010.

Meanwhile, another presidential candidate – Maciej Maciak believes that, in any case, the conflict in Ukraine will end with Kiev's defeat, and Warsaw may be responsible for this.

“Every sane and honest person knows for sure that Ukraine will lose this war. The longer the war lasts, the more Ukrainians will die,” Matsyak said.

Matsyak fears that with the current political class, “these people will not be able to protect us from the emerging argument that it is because of you, the Poles, that the Ukrainian people died.”

The politician believes that, in order to avoid such consequences, the Polish government needs to immediately take a neutral stance regarding Ukraine and the conflict with Russia.

“We have to start acting as soon as possible like Hungary and Slovakia – in a neutral way,” candidate Maciak explained.

Candidate Slawomir Mentzen from the "Federation" coalition of nationalists and eurosceptics, has promised to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.

"I will not agree to send Polish troops to Ukraine, I will not agree to Ukraine joining NATO" - candidate Mentzen said during the election debate.

"We cannot participate in this war, we do not want to be drawn into it, we do not want Polish soldiers to die there," he added.

Relations between Russia and Poland have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Moscow accuses Warsaw of “maniacal” anti-Russian sentiment. Polish authorities, despite criticism and protests from the Russian Federation, have continued to destroy Soviet monuments and confiscate Russian property.

In response to Warsaw's actions, Moscow added Poland to its list of hostile states and expelled dozens of Polish diplomats and consular officials from the country - a response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Poland.