Polish Ambassador Adam Burakowski said that Poland understood the finer nuances of India’s stand on the Ukraine-Russia conflict
Polish ambassador to India Adam Burakowski. Image courtesy MSZ/Wikimedia Commons
Russia is a despotic, tyrannical and autocratic system and it is dangerous for the whole world. It is Russian imperialism that has led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The excuse given by Russia that it was compelled to invade Ukraine due to the increasing sphere of the influence of NATO is a smokescreen. The real intention behind Russia’s invasion is its tendency to subjugate other nations because of its imperialistic system.
These were some of the thoughts expressed by Ambassador of Poland to India Adam Burakowski in an exclusive interview with the writer. Burakowski, incidentally, is a political scientist and not a career diplomat and his area of specialisation has been Indian history. He also speaks and understands Hindi quite well.
Burakowski speaks quite passionately when it comes to the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as his country not only shares a border with Russia but it is also home to more than 2.5 million refugees from Ukraine. Poland has supplied ammunition to Ukrainian forces and pledged its support to the present regime in Ukraine which is fighting against Russian forces on the ground for the last eight weeks. However, Poland is also getting a record number of refugees that pose a formidable challenge for this east European country which was once occupied by the erstwhile Soviet Union and was forced to have a communist regime. Poland unshackled itself in 1999 and was quick to join the European Union and NATO.
On Ukrainian Refugees
“We already have more than 2.5 million refugees from Ukraine. These refugees are almost exclusively women and children. And they are being received very warmly by the Polish society. Many of them just spent their time in apartments of private people whom they didn’t know. Poles accepted Ukrainians as their families. All the government institutions are helping to facilitate this process. They helped Ukrainians to come to Poland. Ukrainians have been given medical care in Poland, their children have been admitted to the Polish schools from day one. Also all the non-governmental organisations are helping Ukrainians.”
On NATO’s role
A section of analysts has blamed NATO’s attempts to encircle Russia for the present conflict as NATO has included in its fold several east European countries that became independent and democratic nations in the Post-Soviet era. Ukraine would have been the last straw, according to these analysts. So Russia was, in a way, compelled to invade Ukraine to stop it from becoming a member of NATO in addition to other reasons.
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However, Ambassador Burakowski debunks this theory, calling it Russian propaganda. In a detailed response on this issue, he commented, “NATO is a defence alliance. Poland is a member. And we always wanted to be a member. But we could not join earlier as we were under Soviet occupation. Once we got rid of the Soviet conquest and we transitioned to a democratic society, it was natural for us to join Western structures such as NATO and the European Union. And the same is true for every member of NATO from the eastern flank. A few days ago we published a letter of Ambassadors of ‘Bucharest Nine’ — the nine countries that joined NATO after 1999 — and we explained that it is the will of our population, nobody has forced us to join NATO.”
“NATO is a guarantee for peace and Russia cannot accept it because of their imperialist way of thinking. They really think in a very imperialistic way which is dangerous to the whole world and I know India emerged as an independent state on anti-imperialistic grounds. So anti-imperialism is a common value between Poland and India, but Russia still lives in this imperialistic way of thinking. It can’t accept that some countries are independent like Ukraine.”
Ukraine and NATO
Speaking strongly in support of Ukraine’s right to join NATO has been opposed by Russia, Ambassador Burakowski said, “Ukraine is an independent sovereign state. Ukraine has every right to make a decision about its future according to the will of their citizens. And we fully recognise this.”
On NATO being accused of encircling Russia, Ambassador Burakowski said, “If you look at the map, you will see how low the percentage of Russian border is with NATO countries. This is kind of a thing, I can’t even comment because this is Russian propaganda, I don’t know who can believe it. It’s beyond my imagination to believe that NATO is encircling Russia.”
Strengthening NATO
When asked that NATO seems to be driven by the US and a handful of select European countries with other members being mute spectators or merely followers, Burakowski said, “NATO is a democratic alliance of democratic countries, so all the decisions are taken collectively and what we are doing now is to strengthen the eastern flank because we see that Russia is a super aggressive state and the biggest threat to our security. So we need to strengthen our eastern border. Russia just disclosed its idea to conquer other states by military force which is against any international law, against any human way of thinking. They just want to have military conquests and we have to be ready for it and we are.”
On emerging global security scenario
Burakowski emphasised the need to end wars and focus on economic progress. When asked about the emerging global security scenario in wake of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Polish Ambassador candidly said, “We still don’t know what will be the outcome of the war, but we are committed to fight for a stable, secure world. We don’t consider invading other countries as a method to find a solution to any problem…”
On India’s stand on Russia-Ukraine conflict
Burakowski indicated that Poland understood the finer nuances of India’s stand on this conflict as he commented, “India has given many statements in the UN, all of them going in the same direction, pointing out some bad things without naming who has done them. This is different from our(Polish) stand because we condemned Russian aggression and we stand with Ukraine.”
On Polish-India relationship
Burakowski feels that the relationship between the two countries has been making steady progress. The Indian diaspora is also expanding in Poland. During the initial days of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Poland helped to evacuate 4,000 Indian students who were studying in Ukraine and had entered Poland through the Ukrainian border. “Poland was the first one to help,” said Burakowski.
He recalled that during World War II, the Maharaja of Jamnagar, Gujarat, and the royal family of Kolhapur in Maharashtra had established and run two camps for Polish refugees who had landed in India. In the Jamnagar camp, there were around 800 children while the Kolhapur camp had around 5,000 refugees. “They spent their war years in India. So, it was a unique event that bound our nations together,” said Burakowski.
The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. Views expressed are personal.
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