RUSSIAN-POLISH RELATIONS

The history of bilateral relations is rooted in the remote past – they are over a thousand years old. The first war between Kievan Rus and Poland took place in 981. The period of Polish eastward expansion (late 16th--early 17th centuries) was replaced with a counter onslaught, as a result of which the bigger part of Poland came under the power of the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1916. Nevertheless, the two nations developed close economic and cultural ties.

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and Poland established diplomatic relations in 1921. Apart from the embassies in Moscow and Warsaw, there are Russian consulates-general in Gdansk, Krakow and Poznan, and Polish consulates-general in St Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Irkutsk. The legal foundation of bilateral relations is formed by the documents signed by the former USSR and the Polish People’s Republic (their inventory has not been completed yet), the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Poland on Friendly and Good-Neighbourly Cooperation of May 22, 1992, and other intergovernmental treaties and agreements.

The last bilateral summit meetings took place on May 8, 2010, in Moscow during the celebrations of the 65th Victory anniversary , December 6-7, 2010, during the official visit of the Russian President to Poland, and on April 11, 2011, during memorial events in Smolensk. 

The Russian and Polish prime ministers met on February 8, 2008, in Moscow, January 29, 2009, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, on September 1, 2009, in Gdansk during the memorial events marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, and on April 7 and 10, 2010, in the Smolensk Region during the events at the Katyn war cemetery and the site of the crash of Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s aircraft.

The last visit by the Russian Foreign Minister to Poland took place on December 20, 2013, at the meeting of the Committee for the Russian-Polish Cooperation Strategy. Since then, the ministers of the two countries met in Munich on February 1, 2014, and on June 10, 2014, in St Petersburg (in the trialogue format with the participation of the German Foreign Minister), and on December 4, 2014, in Basel (on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting).

On January 22, 2016, Moscow hosted bilateral political consultations between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov and Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marek Ziolkowski.

In August 2012, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia paid the first ever visit to Poland, during which the Russian Orthodox Church and the Polish Episcopal Conference of the Roman Catholic Church signed a Joint Message to the Nations of Poland and Russia.

The two countries have established a number of mechanisms for bilateral cooperation:  Committee for the Russian-Polish Cooperation Strategy (headed by the foreign ministers),  Forum of Regions (under the aegis of the speakers of the upper houses of parliament),  Russian-Polish Group on the Complex Issues Arising from the History of Russian-Polish Relations (co-chaired by Rector of the Foreign Ministry MGIMO University Anatoly Torkunov on the Russian side and Director of the Foreign Ministry Institute of East-Central Europe Miroslaw Filipowicz on the Polish side),  Public Forum (co-chaired by Executive Director of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund Leonid Drachevsky on the Russian side and, until recently,  by famous Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi),  Russian-Polish and Polish-Russian Centres for Dialogue and Understanding (co-chaired by Yury Bondarenko  and Ernest Wyciszkiewicz, respectively). Most of these formats were frozen in recent years at the Polish initiative.

According to Russian statistics, bilateral trade amounted to $13.06 billion in 2016, which was 5.1 percent less than in 2015. In 2016, Poland’s share in Russia’s foreign trade was 2.8 percent (an increase of 0.2 percent over 2015). Russian exports ($9.1 billion) went decreased by 5.9 percent, while Polish exports ($3.96 billion) went down by 3.4 percent. Between January and April 2017, bilateral trade stood at $4.94 billion (growing by 42.3 percent over the previous period), Russian exports were up to $3.6 billion (an increase of 53.7 percent), and Polish exports reached $1.3 billion (growing by 17.9 percent).

Until recently, the implementation оf the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Poland on the Procedure for Small Border Traffic (SBT) signed in Moscow on December 14, 2011, was a positive aspect of bilateral relations. Its regime extended to residents of the Kaliningrad Region and Poland’s neighbouring Pomeranian Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. On June 30, 2016, Poland announced that the SBT Agreement would be suspended (starting as of July 4, 2016) without preliminary consultations. Initially Poland explained this decision by security considerations in connection with the NATO summit in Warsaw (July 8-9, 2016) and the World Youth Day in Krakow (July 26-31, 2016) but it did not restore the simplified border crossing procedure following these events.

The Russian-Polish Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation (IGC) is the main instrument of interstate interaction in trade and the economy. The IGC was established under the intergovernmental economic cooperation agreement of November 2, 2004. Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov co-chairs it on the Russian side. The position of the Polish co-chair was vacated in November 2015 due to changes in the Polish Government. The new co-chair, Minister of Infrastructure and Development Andrzej Adamczyk, was appointed only in May 2017.

 The Commission includes six working groups: on trade and investment, cooperation in the fuel-and-energy sector, cooperation on tourism, military-technical cooperation, agrarian cooperation, and customs issues. The IGC held its latest (sixth) meeting between September 19 and 21, 2013, in Gdansk.

In addition to this, there are the following bilateral formats in trade and economic relations: the Russian-Polish Standing Commission on Transport, the Russian-Polish Joint Fisheries Commission, the Russian-Polish Interregional Cooperation Commission, councils for cooperation of the Kaliningrad Region and St. Petersburg with Polish voivodeships, the Russian-Polish Business Council (established by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on the Russian side and the Eastern Club on the Polish side), and the Polish-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In July 2009, the Business Council for Cooperation with Poland was established in Moscow in July 2009.

Until recently, the development of Russian-Polish cultural, humanitarian and scientific contacts was stable. Cross seasons of Russian and Polish culture were held successfully in both countries between 2007 and2008. Russian film festivals, Satellite over Poland, and Polish film festivals, Vistula, have been organised in Poland and Russia, respectively, since 2007. The International Festival dedicated to singer Anna German has been held at the initiative of the Women’s Union of Russia and the Polish Women’s League since 2014. Days of Polish Science were held in Russia in 2008, and Days of Russian Science took place in Poland in 2011. 

Despite Warsaw’s unilateral withdrawal in 2014, under the pretext of the Ukrainian crisis, from participation in the cross years scheduled in both countries for 2015, some projects were still carried out. Specifically, guest performances by the Alexandrov Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army and the Moiseyev State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble were organised in Poland in November and October, respectively, while Moscow hosted an international festival of children’s theatres, “Gavroche. The Polish Season,” during which four theatres from different Polish cities performed in Moscow (September-October). Gala concerts by Russian operatic soloists were held in Warsaw and Krakow (February), and a concert of the chamber orchestra of the Kaliningrad Regional Philharmonic Society took place in Olsztyn (April).

After an interval of 20 years, the annual Russian Song Festival was held in Zielona Gora since 2008 at the initiative of Poland, and return Polish song festivals took place in Russia since 2010 (both events ceased to exist in 2014).
Russian Centres have been opened in Krakow, Lublin, Slupsk and Wroclaw at the initiative of the Russkiy Mir Foundation to support and promote the Russian language in Poland (the third most popular language after English and German).

Russian and Polish Academies of Sciences have been cooperating for many years, especially in the area of fundamental space exploration. The RAS Institute of Europe and the RAS Institute of Slavic Studies are carrying out a number of joint projects. The Bilateral Commission of Historians has been functioning at the Academies of Sciences of both countries since 1965.

On January 27, 2013, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum (Oswiecim) opened a new Russian display dedicated to the tragedy of the Soviet prisoners and the camp’s liberation by the Red Army in January 1945. The then State Duma Speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, took part in the opening ceremony.

In December 2013, the Russian Federation made a one-off voluntary contribution to the international Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. Proceeds from the placement of funds raised by the Foundation are used to restore and maintain items on display as well as the facilities of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.

In January 2013, the Polish Ministry of Culture invited Russia to join an international project on upgrading the Sobibor Museum located in the territory of the former Nazi death camp of the same name. The invitation was confirmed in 2014 and 2016. In July 2017, the Russian Embassy in Warsaw received a letter from Jaroslaw Sellin to the effect that at its meeting on June 12-13, 2017, the Sobibor International Management Committee discussed Russia’s potential participation in the project. As it follows from the letter, the Committee “has unanimously ruled to continue cooperation with the same composition of participants as has existed during a number of years.”  The letter says that a successful completion of the project is a priority for the Polish Government and that its partners from Israel, the Netherlands, and Slovakia are also interested in this. At the same time, it is not ruled out that the Committee will consider Russia’s possible participation in the project at subsequent stages in its implementation. 

REPUBLIC OF POLAND

The Republic of Poland is a state in Central Europe, which has an over 200 kilometres-long border with Russia (Kaliningrad Region). It also borders on Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In the north, Poland is washed by the Baltic Sea.

Area: 312.7 thousand square kilometres.

Population: 38.51 million, over 97 percent Poles.

Religion: Roman Catholicism (95 percent of the population are Roman Catholics).

Official language: Polish.

Currency: Polish zloty.

Administrative divisions: Three stages, 16 voivodeships (provinces), 379 powiats (counties or districts), and 2,479 gminas (a gmina is the main unit of territorial self-government).

Capital: Warsaw (1.7 million). Other large cities are Krakow (756,000), Lodz (737,000), Wroclaw (633,000), Poznan (552,000), and Gdansk (457,000).

National flag:  Red and white.

National emblem: White eagle against red background.

National anthem: Dąbrowski’s mazurka “Jeszcze Polska nie zgineła” (Poland is not yet lost).

National holidays: May 3, anniversary of the 1791Constitution. The current Constitution came into force in October 1997.  November 11, Independence Day, marking the restoration of Polish statehood in 1918.

History: The Polish state emerged in the late 10^th century AD. In 966, its ruler, Duke Mieszko I, adopted Christianity. In 1025, Poland became a kingdom with its seat in Gniezno. It was headed by the Piast national dynasty. In the mid-12^th century, it broke up into apanage principalities but was reunited by King Casimir the Great in the early 14^th century. The King also conquered Galician Rus and part of Volyn and Podolye. Krakow became Poland’s capital in 1320.

In 1386, the Polish throne went to the Lithuanian Jagiellonian dynasty, this opening the way to a personal union of the two states. In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the united Polish-Lithuanian force and allied Smolensk regiments defeated the Teutonic Order, thus putting an end to its expansion, which had deprived Poland of access to the Baltic Sea in the 13^th and 14^th centuries.

The first Rzeczpospolita (borrowed from the Latin res publica) was established with the signing of the Union of Lublin by Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. At the peak of its power, this state spread “from sea to sea (In the first half of the 17^th century, it included most of modern Poland and Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, a portion of Latvia, and some West Russian lands, while Courland, Liefland, Danzig and Prussia were its vassals. Thus it really had an access to the Baltic Sea and indirectly to the Black Sea.).” This state existed until 1795. Warsaw became its de facto capital since 1596.

In 1610, Russian boyars invited Wladyslaw, son of the King of Rzeczpospolita Sigismund III, to the Moscow throne. In 1612, the Poles were ousted from Moscow by a Russian volunteer corps led by Nizhny Novgorod merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. As a result of  the Russian-Polish wars conducted with mixed success (1577-82, 1609-18, 1632-34, 1654-67), the Moscow State acquired the Smolensk Region and Left-Bank Ukraine.

Following the three partitions of Rzeczpospolita (1772, 1793 and 1795) between Austria, Prussia and Russia, the territory of today’s Belarus, Right-Bank Ukraine (without Galicia), Lithuania and parts of Latvia were added to the Russian Empire. After the Polish lands were redivided at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815, the Russian Empire acquired the bigger part of the Duchy of Warsaw (except for the Greater Poland with Poznan and Krakow), where it established the Kingdom of Poland that initially enjoyed considerable autonomy. A series of Polish national liberation uprisings in 1774 (led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko), 1830-1831, 1846, 1848 and 1863-1864 were crushed.

In August 1918, the Soviet leadership cancelled the tsarist government’s treaties on the partition of Poland. In November of the same year, Poland was granted independence and proclaimed a republic (II Rzeczpospolita or the Second Polish Republic). On March 18, 1921, Soviet Russia and Poland signed a peace treaty in Riga, Latvia, which fixed the results of the 1919-1920 Soviet-Polish war that ended unsuccessfully for Russia (the border between the two countries passed much farther to the east than the Curzon Line, the eastern brink of compact Polish settlement).

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland, thereby unleashing World War II. Having quickly routed the Polish army, Germany occupied most of the country. On September 17, 1939, the Red Army entered Western Ukraine, Western Byelorussia, and the Vilnius Region, which were joined to the USSR.

Between July 1944 and May 1945, the Red Army fully liberated Poland with the assistance of the First Polish Army. Over 600,000 Soviet officers and men died in battles fought for the liberation of Poland. World War II cost Poland almost 40 percent of its national wealth and over six million people (one-fifth of its population). In the West, its border passed along the Oder–Neisse line and in the East along the Curzon Line, with some concessions in favour of Poland.

After the war, Poland proclaimed a course towards the construction of  socialist society under the leadership of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP). The Polish People’s Republic was a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance until their dissolution.

The abolition of the socialist system in Poland in the late 1980s was preceded by lengthy internal political struggles that became spearheaded, in 1980, by the Solidarity opposition movement. In December 1981, martial law was imposed and lasted until 1983. The first free elections were held in June 1989 after the round table talks between the main political forces. Since December 21, 1989, Poland has been officially titled the Republic of Poland (III Rzeczpospolita). Since that time, the internal political processes were accompanied by frequent changes of government and profound changes in the party landscape, which is now dominated by the national populist forces. The liberal conservative and centrist parties are in opposition, while the left-wing forces are weak and disunited.

Political system: Poland is a parliamentary-presidential republic. Legislative power is vested in parliament, the Sejm and the Senate. Executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic and the Council of Ministers. The judicial branch is represented by courts and tribunals. The head and supreme representative of the Polish state is President elected by nationwide ballot at general elections once every five years. No one can be elected to the office of President for more than two terms. Andrzej Duda, nominated by the nationalist clerical Law and Justice Party, was elected president in the second round of the presidential election on May 24, 2015 (assumed office on August 6, 2015).

Parliament has a lower house, the Sejm (400 deputies), and an upper house, the Senate (100 senators). Deputies and senators are elected simultaneously for four years in multi-mandate constituencies on the basis of the proportionate and majority voting systems, respectively. The latest parliamentary elections, held on October 25, 2015, were won by the Law and Justice party. Its representative Marek Kuchcinski was elected Marshal of the Sejm (in November 2015). Marshal of the Senate is Stanisław Karczewski (since November 2015), also a representative of the same party.

As of July 19, 2017, the seats in the Sejm are held by the following parties:

1)      Law and Justice, 234 deputies;

2)      Civic Platform, 136 deputies;

3)      Kukiz’15, 32 deputies;

4)      Modern, 27 deputies;

5)      Polish Peasants’ Party, 15 deputies;

6)      Union of European Democrats, 4 deputies;

7)      Free and Solidary, 3 deputies;

8)      The “Republicans,” 3 deputies;

9)      German Minority, 1 deputy;

10)    Independents, 5 deputies.

In the Senate, 64 senators represent Law and Justice, 33 Civic Platform, and three are independents.

Government (Council of Ministers) is formed by the party winning the parliamentary election. It is sworn in by the President and is approved by the Sejm. The October 25, 2015, elections were won by the Law and Justice party. A new Cabinet of Ministers was appointed on November 16, 2015. It was headed by Beata Szydlo. Witold Waszczykowski has been Foreign Minister since November 16, 2015.

Main political parties and trade unions: Poland has over 60 parties and public and political associations. The two  most influential  trade unions  are the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (formed in 1989, includes over a hundred branch organistions and is headed by Jan Guz ) and the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” (over 1.2 million members, the National Commission is chaired by Piotr  Duda).

Poland sees as its foreign policy priority the consolidation of its position on the international arena, especially in the European Union (EU) (joined 2004, chaired second half 2011) and NATO (member since 1999). Poland is part of Visegrad Four (along with Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), the Central European Initiative (CEI) (18 countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe), the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the Weimar Triangle (with Germany and France).

Warsaw is an active supporter of the strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank and deployment of its military units, arms and infrastructure on its own territory and in the Baltic countries. It is paying special attention to its strategic partnership with Washington. In this context, a US missile defence facility is under construction on Polish territory and Poland hosts an American armoured brigade and army air units. The military infrastructure is being upgraded as well. Poland is actively promoting the EU’s project of Eastern Partnership aimed at drawing Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia into the EU orbit.

Armed forces: (Unofficially called Wojsko Polskie) include land forces, a navy, an air force, an air defence force, special troops, and a territorial defence force.  President Andrzej Duda is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief; Antoni Macierewicz is the National Defence Minister; and Gen. Leszek Surawski is Chief of the General Staff (since May 2017). There are plans to bring the armed forces strength to 200,000 (including 130,000 professional military personnel and 53,000 territorial defence troops). Servicemen take part in peacekeeping operations, prioritising missions under NATO and EU auspices.

Economy: In general, Poland’s economic status remains stable. Between1990s and 2000s, it was developing at priority rates and avoided recession even during the 2008-2009 global crisis as well as the latest slump that hit certain EU states. In 2016, GDP grew by 2.8 percent to $467.4 billion, or $12,000 per capita. The average pay is $1,069. In 2016, unemployment was 8.3 percent and the national debt, 52.4 percent of GDP. Main trade partners are other EU states, primarily Germany.

Science and culture: Poland is a country with rich cultural and scientific traditions. It has world-renowned  scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus and Marie Sklodowska-Curie, composers Frederic Chopin and Henryk Wieniawski, writers Bolesław Prus and Henryk Sienkiewicz, poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki, and ilmmakers Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

To date, there are about 500 research institutes and 131 higher educational institutions, including 38 universities (one of these is the ancient Jagiellonian University founded in 1364).The total student body is almost two million.  Poland has over a hundred drama, musical and puppet theatres, and numerous museums and art galleries, the most famous of which are the National Museum in Warsaw and the Museum of Modern Art in Lodz.

Media: The Polish Press Agency (PAP) is the main national news structure. There are also a number of private news agencies. The following publications have the biggest circulation: the newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza,  Rzeczpospolita,  Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Nasz Dziennik, Super Express, Fakt and Puls Biznesu;  the magazines  Wprost, Przegląd, Przekroi, Polytika and Newsweek.  Apart from government-owned (TVP and Polish Radio) Poland has private TV and radio broadcasting companies (TVN, POLSAT and RMF FM, to name a few).