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Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union

Submitted on 2016-04-29 10:40:13

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs


On April 28, the Foreign Ministry of Poland notified the Russian Embassy in Warsaw about the Polish authorities’ decision to deny entry to a group of Russian motorcyclists, who planned to enter Poland as part of the Roads of Victory motor rally commemorating the 71st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. It is for the second year running that Warsaw has taken this decision, and this time it has not even provided any formal explanation.

We consider the Polish authorities’ decision to deprive a group of Russian citizens of an opportunity to commemorate Soviet soldiers who fell liberating Europe from Nazism as a particularly cynical and malevolent act deliberately aimed at further aggravating Russian-Polish relations. It is especially shocking that the above decision was taken after the Russian authorities had provided all-round assistance to the Polish colleagues’ events held in the Smolensk Region to commemorate the Katyn massacre and the crash of the Polish President’s aircraft near Smolensk on April 10, 2010.

In view of this unfriendly action of the Polish authorities, the Polish Ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on April 29, where she received a note of strong protest. It was pointed out that we consider the Polish authorities’ decision, which was taken on the eve of the upcoming Victory Day celebrations, as an insult to the memory of those who fell fighting against Nazism. Responsibility for the inevitable negative consequences of Warsaw’s hostile behaviour for bilateral relations will rest exclusively with the Polish party.


Source URL: https://russiaeu.ru/en/node/55