The dispute between Poland and Ukraine regarding the import of Ukrainian grain will not significantly affect the good bilateral relations between the two countries, Polish President Andrej Duda said on Friday, whose expected meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN General Assembly did not take place , reports Reuters and Agerpres.
Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr ZelenskyPhoto: Ukraine Presidency via Bestimage / Bestimage / Profimedia
Last Friday, Poland unilaterally extended the ban on the import of four Ukrainian agricultural products to protect its agricultural producers, after the European Commission rejected the request of EU states neighboring Ukraine to extend this measure. Slovakia and Hungary have followed suit, angering Kiev, which has complained about the three countries to the World Trade Organization (WTO), although Poland and Slovakia are among the states providing military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed in relation to this case that some countries “mimic solidarity” with Ukraine and that the “political theater” created by the dispute over the import of Ukrainian grain serves Russia, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the ambassador of Ukraine, and the president Poland drew Kiev’s attention that it should “remember” the help that Warsaw offers. The Polish government later announced that it would no longer supply Ukraine with any weapons in addition to those already agreed upon.
However, the Polish president took a step towards de-escalating the situation on Friday. “I have no doubt that the dispute over grain imports from Ukraine to the Polish market is only a fragment of Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Andrzej Duda said at a business conference. “I don’t think it will have a significant impact on them, so we have to resolve this issue between us,” the Polish head of state added, a day after the government in Kiev announced it would hold talks with the Warsaw government to to reach an agreement on the grain import issue.
Duda was supposed to meet with Zelenski during the General Assembly in New York, but the meeting did not take place. Asked about this in an interview on Thursday, the Polish president replied that “the atmosphere became tense” and that Zelenski’s statements left a bitter taste.
Russia rejoices
Meanwhile, reacting to the dispute between Warsaw and Kiev on the grain issue, Moscow claimed on Friday that an increase in tensions between Ukraine and its European allies is “inevitable”.
“We anticipate that these frictions between Warsaw and Kiev will increase”, the spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitri Pekov, answered to the press, when asked about Warsaw’s announcement that it will no longer supply weapons to Kiev.
“We understand that tensions between Kiev and other European capitals will also increase over time, it is inevitable. And during this time we continue our special military operation (in Ukraine) to achieve the goals we set for ourselves,” said the spokesman of President Vladimir Putin, according to AFP.
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