Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote for the British magazine The Economist “Some Western European politicians have forgotten the lesson of the Munich Agreement of 1938. The analogies with the present situation are striking. After the policy of concessions initiated by the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain, the Second World War broke out within a year.

The Polish prime minister pointed out that in February 2007, almost 70 years after the infamous Munich conference, Vladimir Putin openly announced his intention to dismantle the post-Cold War order in Europe. The following year, he attacked Georgia. Six years later, he took the Crimea and sparked a conflict in Donbas. And eight years later, he began the bloodiest part of his plan. “The demons of history have returned. We are witnessing genocide again”, wrote the prime minister.

He stated that the mechanisms of totalitarianism remained the same as seventy years ago and that the mechanisms of concession also remained unchanged. “Russia will continue its cruelty, and if it is not stopped, the events we witnessed in Bucha, Irpin and Mariupol may be repeated.

Morawiecki wrote that for over a decade Poland had warned against the policy of concessions to Russia and Putin’s growing imperial aspirations, but these warnings were not taken into account and even were met with contempt.

The Polish Prime Minister stressed that Europe should do more to help Ukraine both economically and militarily, and proposed the confiscation of all Russian assets and foreign currency reserves, and the revenues should be used to help Ukraine.

Adrian Andrzejewski