Europe

Poland owes Russia billions claims top politician amid push to ban Polish trucks

Chairman of Russia’s State Duma says Poland needs to be punished for having ‘betrayed historical memory’ of Soviet Union’s liberation of country from Nazis

State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin speaks to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at Russia's National Defence Control Centre in Moscow in December last year. Photograph: Sergey Fadeichev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty
State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin speaks to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at Russia's National Defence Control Centre in Moscow in December last year. Photograph: Sergey Fadeichev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty
Sun May 21 2023 - 11:23

A top-ranking Russian politician has called for a ban on Polish trucks transiting onto Russian territory and for Poland to compensate Moscow financially for what he said was the Soviet rebuilding of the east European country after the second World War.

In a statement, Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said Poland needed to be punished for having “betrayed the historical memory” of the Soviet Union’s liberation of the country from Nazi Germany with what he called a series of hostile acts against Moscow.

In comments that may deepen a feud with Warsaw, Mr Volodin said Poland existed as a state only “thanks to our country”, and said Warsaw should pay Russia over $750 billion (€693 billion) to compensate it for Soviet investment in the country after the second World War.

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He said Poland should also hand back territory it took control of after the war.

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There was no immediate reaction to his comments from Warsaw.

Mr Volodin said a parliamentary committee would begin considering a ban on Polish trucks entering Russian territory as soon as Monday. Such a move, he said, would cause Poland significant financial pain and job losses.

Strained Russian-Polish relations have deteriorated further since the war in Ukraine – something Moscow calls “a special military operation” – with Warsaw positioning itself as one of Kyiv’s key allies.

Russia last month promised it would respond harshly to what it said was Poland's illegal seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it called a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

In March 2022, Poland had said it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats suspected of working for Moscow’s intelligence services. – Reuters