New pro-Russia party emerges in Poland By PAULINA PACULA
WARSAW, 23. MAR, 11:14
A new pro-Russia party has emerged on the Polish political scene and is hoping to scoop as much as 12 percent of votes in elections later this year. Zmiana - meaning “change” - has a strong anti-American streak and supports Russian president Vladimir Putin’s politics, seeing Russia as a natural ally for both Poland and the European Union.
Mateusz Piskorski, Zmiana’s leader, denies there is Russian aggression against Ukraine, supports pro-Russian separatists, says Crimea's secession referendum (deemed illegal by the EU and UN) was fair, and criticises the Polish government’s “confrontational” and “anti-Russian” politics. "Russia’s support to Ukrainian separatists is a natural reaction to a situation in which country’s compatriots are threatened by Ukrainian nationalists," the political scientist told EUobserver.
In a country where the government strongly condemns Putin’s politics and pushes for a strong EU line against Russia, the emergence of such a party may come as a surprise - but it shouldn’t, say experts.
"Polish society is not monolithic when it comes to the support of the government’s foreign policy in Ukraine," Rafal Chwedoruk, a political analyst, told EUobserver.
"The attitude toward Russia also varies.”
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