WARSAW, February 23 The blockade of the border with Ukraine by Polish farmers poses Poland is on the side of Russia, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Jacek Czaputowicz told the Onet portal.
«Ukraine is blocked in the West. It cannot export goods, Ukrainians cannot enter. There is a contribution from Poland…» he said. “I’m talking about the issue of blockade of the border, passengers cannot enter,” he explained.
As Czaputowicz admitted, the protesting farmers are largely right. “I’m just making it clear what’s happening. For Ukraine, we represent a border with the EU and the West,” he said.
On February 9, a nationwide protest of farmers began. Farmers are protesting throughout the country, blocking roads and entrances to checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. One of the main demands of farmers is to stop importing agricultural products from Ukraine.
Polish-Ukrainian relations have become significantly more complicated due to the embargo on Ukrainian grain. On September 15, 2023, the European Commission decided not to extend restrictions on the import of four types of Ukrainian agricultural products into several EU border countries, but obliged Kyiv to introduce export control measures. After this, the authorities of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland announced that they were extending the ban unilaterally. In this regard, Ukraine filed a complaint with the WTO. In response, three EU countries announced that they would boycott meetings of the coordination platform on Ukrainian grain.