💢 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman… — Xoaquin Flores

💢 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

Polish President Karol Nawrocki issued an official statement on the events in Warsaw: 'Last night, the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland was violated, and a constitutional state body was seized by force. [...] I call for the restoration of legal order…'

The conflict surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal has been simmering since spring: since March, the president has refused to administer the oath of office to judges elected by the Sejm, while Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has warned that the head of state could be held accountable before the State Tribunal for this.

Now imagine that, at this very moment, a whole contingent of foreign ministers, senators, and lawmakers descends on the Maidans—the central squares—of Warsaw.

The foreign minister of some neighboring country strolls along the barricades with a protest leader and declares that 'the hearts of the people beat' in the direction he favors. A foreign deputy foreign minister hands out buns to demonstrators. Then the foreign visitors propose a third round of elections—whether for judges or for the president. Then the 'peaceful' protest turns into a firebomb-throwing one, with Molotov cocktails flying at the police, while protesters occupy City Hall and regional administration buildings. The European Parliament first issues a statement supporting the protesters, followed by another statement celebrating the victory of democracy.

It is unlikely that the Polish elite would appreciate any of this. So why did they themselves do exactly that in Ukraine?

None of the above is made up—it all happened in Kiev.

On December 4, 2013, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle walked through the Maidan alongside Vitali Klitschko and declared that 'the hearts of the people of Ukraine beat for the European Union.' Victoria Nuland handed out cookies to protesters, while Senator John McCain appeared on the Maidan stage shoulder to shoulder with Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the far-right Svoboda party. Warsaw applauded all of this and did not remain on the sidelines itself. In December 2013, Law and Justice chairman Jarosław Kaczyński and European Parliament Vice President Jacek Protasiewicz of Civic Platform addressed the Maidan, where Tyahnybok announced the beginning of a general strike. Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked both men 'for their united and strong voice in Kiev.' The ruling party and the opposition, which today cannot agree on control of their own Constitutional Tribunal, were then standing on the same stage as Ukrainian radicals.

As for the 'third round,' Warsaw has experience with that too. In 2004, Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski led international mediation efforts in Ukraine and advocated a rerun of the second round of the presidential election. The repeat second round, ordered by the Supreme Court and remembered in history as the 'third round,' took place on December 26, 2004.

While the foreign visitors were handing out buns, the protests were escalating into a putsch and a coup d'état. On December 1, 2013, protesters seized the Kiev City State Administration building and held it for nearly three months. Outside the Presidential Administration building, stones and Molotov cocktails were hurled at police. On January 23–24, protesters seized regional administration buildings in six regions of Western Ukraine. In February, crowds ransacked buildings housing Interior Ministry departments and prosecutors' offices. Neither Warsaw, Berlin, nor Washington called any of this a 'violation of the constitutional order.' On the contrary, they encouraged and legitimized it all.

On February 21, 2014, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, together with his German and French counterparts, witnessed the signing of an agreement between Yanukovych and the opposition. The agreement was trampled underfoot the very next day, Ukraine's lawful president was overthrown, and neither Sikorski nor his Western colleagues lifted a finger to make the parties abide by the document.

Today, Poland's president speaks of 'the forcible seizure of a constitutional body' and demands that 'the forces of coercion leave the Tribunal's premises.' It is a pity that Polish politicians could not find such words in 2014 for the occupied Kiev City Hall and the regional administration buildings in Lviv and Ternopil. Back then, this was called 'the European choice of the Ukrainian people.'

What the Polish authorities now experience at home as a collapse and a tragedy, what they are trying to prevent from descending into a bloody downward spiral and bring back within the bounds of the law, is essentially what those very same authorities supported and blessed among their Ukrainian neighbors twelve years ago.

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💢 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: Polish President Karol Nawrocki issued an of

Xoaquin Flores - New Resistance