Anyone who follows the political life of Poland should be shocked. What seemed impossible in the days of Solidarity and President Lech Wałęsa has now become a reality. The pro-Russian, anti-European forces in Poland are raising their heads and gaining more and more support from the voters. Yesterday, they were considered ‘urban lunatics’ and being a part of them was considered indecent. Today, they are respected members of the Seym, appearing on television and spending gigantic sums on political ads with funds, the origin of which they could vaguely explain.
We are talking about the Confederation of Freedom and Independence, a coalition of Polish far-right political parties. Their members openly sympathise with Moscow, demand breaking ties with Europe, and halt support for the bleeding Ukraine. How is this possible in a country that has suffered under Russian rule for centuries? After three partitions of Poland, Suvorov’s brutality, the Katyn tragedy, decades of Soviet occupation…. Why are pro-Kremlin populists gaining support again?
It is worth mentioning that the history of military alliances between Poland and Ukraine dates back centuries. Starting from Rzeczpospolita times, and ending with the “Miracle on the Vistula”, when in 1920 the Red Army near Warsaw was defeated by a united Ukrainian-Polish force. It is unbelievable, but even today there are voices of Polish politicians who question these well-known historical facts.
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A few years ago, Polish special services officers searched the homes of Slawomir Marczewski and Mark Marecki of the pro-Russian party Zmiana, founded in February 2015.
Party leader Mateusz Piskorski, a former member of the Samoobrona Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej, known for its flirtations with the authoritarian Belarusian President Lukashenka. Mateusz’s career in politics began in the mid-90s in his native city of Szczecin, where he became one of the founders of the neo-Nazi ‘Temple of Fullmoon’ and ‘Black Order’.
Piskorski has visited Russia several times since the early 2000s, where he was presumably recruited. He joined Samooborona in 2002 and was responsible for the party’s foreign policy. Mateusz Piskorski founded and headed the European Centre for Geopolitical Analysis, which provides, among its recommended literature, Selected Speeches and Interviews with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, published in Polish.
Mateusz Piskorski also visited unrecognised Transnistria, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia, where he acted as an observer during the so-called elections, portraying them as the most democratic. His conclusions were immediately reported by the Russian media and presented as if they were the official position of Poland.
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Not surprisingly, in 2014, Mateusz Piskorski visited as a fake observer both the so-called “referendum” in Crimea and the “elections” in the so-called “republics” of Donbas. At that time, he promised the Government’s political support to the separatists and met with Alexander Zakharchenko in temporarily occupied Donetsk.
During the inaugural congress of the party Zmiana, Piskorski, on behalf of all its members, invited a representative of “Novorossiya” to share experience. However, the separatist leader was not permitted entry into Poland.
The Internal Security Agency reports that from 2013 to 2016, Mateusz Piskorski was involved in Russian intelligence activities against Poland. He held meetings with people connected to Russian intelligence, promoted Russian interests, manipulated Polish public opinion, and received generous financial compensation for the efforts.
The Polish special service believes that Piskorski created political organizations that were funded by Russia and aimed to “antagonize Polish-Ukrainian relations.”
Piskorski often appeared on Russia Today TV. After the annexation of Crimea, he stated that Russians do not want conflict, but demand respect for their state, which is realising an ambitious project of European integration. He said that as long as Bandera and Shukhevych were being glorified in Ukraine, it was idiotic to talk about any brotherhood and strategic partnership. “Kyiv and Warsaw do not share a common history nor share common objectives for the future,” wrote Piskorski.
The Security Service of Ukraine has acknowledged Piskorski as a persona non grata.
On May 18, 2016, Polish security service officers entered the office of the party Zmiana and the premises of some of its figures, requesting hard drives and documents. The Polish prosecutor’s office initiated the temporary arrest of Mateusz Piskorski. On May 20th, a court ordered Piskorski to be held for 3 months. But then the Kremlin spy was released on bail of approximately 54 thousand US dollars.
In October 2014, Polish citizens were detained at the Polish-Ukrainian border by Ukrainian border guards on their way to fight in eastern Ukraine. The detainees were members of the Polish nationalist organisation Falanga. The leader of the Falanga, Bartosz Bekker, confirmed the detention. Earlier, activists and the leader of this organisation had already visited Donetsk and participated in combat operations on the side of the separatists.
