Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland’s election campaign weaker than anticipated - ex-Polish MP

Journalist and former Polish Sejm deputy Mirosław Czech said this on Espreso TV.

“In reality, there were relatively fewer anti-Ukrainian themes during Poland’s election campaign than one might have expected. Fortunately, Rafał Trzaskowski firmly stated his support for Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the EU. So, polarization has emerged in Poland. I believe the situation that has developed in Poland over the past two years is positive. Now, the negative part. Unfortunately, the political focus in Poland is shifting, and pro-Russian political forces are seeing some success. These forces still gained over 21% of the vote in the elections. They managed to turn the narrative upside down. Essentially, they succeeded in creating a perception among a significant portion of Poles that Ukraine is a threat, not Russia,” Czech explained.

The journalist noted that all anti-Ukrainian narratives in Poland are actively fueled from the outside. At present, this political hysteria in Poland has reached its peak.

“Ukraine is bleeding today. It is defending all of Europe, and Poland first and foremost, from the Russian aggressor. Everyone acknowledges this. Yet some people claim they’re concerned about what’s happening in Ukraine and point to red-and-black flags. That’s the limit of political discourse in Poland. And of course, it’s being fueled externally, but there are also political forces inside the country that openly position themselves as anti-Ukrainian,” he added.

• This Sunday, June 1, Poles will cast their final vote for president and the country’s direction for the next five years, but the gap between candidates Rafał Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki is very narrow, only about 1%.