“If we accept Russia’s impunity, we will encourage others to commit similar aggression. Russia should be permanently deprived of its role as a superpower and long-term consequences should be drawn from this war, said the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations Krzysztof Szczerski.

Last week, Ambassador Szczerski condemned recent Russian missile attacks on civilian facilities in Ukraine and accused Russia of violating international law during a debate at the UN Security Council.

He added that Poland would work with international institutions and Ukraine to hold the authors and executors of the attacks on civilians, which he called barbaric. “It was Russia that started the aggression and it alone bears full responsibility for all the destruction and deaths it caused”, the Polish ambassador said, adding that the only way to achieve peace is to get rid of Russian troops from Ukraine.

He said that the choice of measures against Russia must be related to the answer to the question of what the war should end with, “i.e. do we want to deprive Russia of its superpower status or do we want a return to the situation before the war”.

In the opinion of Ambassador Szczerski, much depends on what the US position on the issue will be and, in his opinion, this will be significantly influenced by the elections to the US Congress. He also stated that the world “has not yet changed” as a result of the war in Ukraine.

“The discussion about Russia’s role in international politics is not settled and voices are divided”, he said and added that Russia has no borders, violates conventions and human rights. “Russia has attacked the whole world energetically. The sooner this war ends, the better,” said Krzysztof Szczerski.

Adrian Andrzejewski