MINSK, May 13. /TASS/. The Polish authorities fabricate charges against those who are in favor of restoring normal relations with Belarus and Russia, says a former Polish judge, Tomasz Schmidt, who has taken refuge in Belarus.
"Such people are instantly labeled as ‘Russian agents’ on the Kremlin’s payroll. That's why they (Polish authorities - TASS) are against people-to-people contacts and positive relations. In other words, there is a whole army of agents who search the homes of these people, who look for and fabricate evidence that would confirm they receive money from the Kremlin," Schmidt said on the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
He sees some "positive" trends in Polish society, which, unlike the authorities, is determined to restore relations with Moscow and Minsk.
"The way I see it, in several years’ time the entire European Union will go bankrupt," the former judge said. "It will gradually lead everyone to decline. Ever more people will stop to think: 'Won’t it be better for us to cooperate with Belarus and Russia? Maybe we should look in this direction?' I think this will be possible in several years’ time," he noted.
Changed attitude toward Ukraine
Schmidt said that recently ordinary Poles began to look differently at the Ukrainians, whom they had used to actively support. Among the reasons for this he mentioned the meddling of Ukrainian businesses, especially those in the agricultural sector, who have emerged in the Polish market to start "destroying Polish businesses and destroy Polish agriculture."
Ukrainian businessmen come [to Poland] "in expensive cars and have fun at discos." Poles see this and begin to "wonder" why these Ukrainians are not involved in the fighting.
"Many Ukrainians, too, are also beginning to think this way. They now no longer want to die for their oligarchs, they do not want to die for the United States or for the policies of a foreign country," Schmidt said.
He noted that the Polish authorities’ attitude towards Kiev had changed, too.
"A certain evolution has happened. At the very beginning there were signals and speculations about [Poland’s] seizure of Western Ukraine. Then some began to consider some form of a federation or confederation with Ukraine or creation of some common Polish-Ukrainian state. This, too, has failed at the present stage. At present, there is a big question mark over Polish-Ukrainian relations," Schmidt said.
The former Polish judge pointed out that actions by Kiev’s military should be regarded as war crimes.
"What the Ukrainian army and the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine - TASS) are doing is war crimes. They behave like the Gestapo," he said.
Schmidt, a judge of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw, who left for Belarus because of disagreement with the Polish authorities and their policies, told a news conference in Minsk on May 6 that he was going to ask Belarus for political asylum and protection. The Supreme Administrative Court of Poland has dismissed Schmidt and authorized his prosecution, as well as his detention and imprisonment. In Poland, the ex-judge is suspected of connections with Belarusian and Russian special services. Earlier, Schmidt said that Warsaw was planning to send assassins, trained by Polish secret services, to Belarus to eliminate him. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he had instructed the security services to take care of Schmidt’s safety.