2022.04.23 波兰总理称西方对普京的姑息必须停止

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By Invitation | Russia and Ukraine
Poland’s prime minister says the West’s appeasement of Vladimir Putin must stop
Mateusz Morawiecki wants more support from the European Union

Apr 23rd 2022

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The war in Ukraine makes us realise that, though history is a good teacher, it has some poor students. Several Western European politicians have forgotten the lesson offered by the Munich agreement of 1938. The analogies with the present situation are striking. The policy of appeasement, spearheaded by Britain’s prime minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain, was followed by the outbreak of the second world war within a year.

In February 2007, almost 70 years after the infamous Munich conference, Vladimir Putin openly announced his desire to dismantle the post-cold war order in Europe. The following year, he attacked Georgia. Six years after that, he occupied Crimea and set Donbas in eastern Ukraine ablaze. And, another eight years on, he began the bloodiest stage of his plan so far. The demons of history have returned. We are witnessing genocide again.


In this environment the West has acted like a frog in water brought gently to the boil. It has not reacted even as Russia has added heat. In 1999 when Russian troops razed Grozny to the ground and murdered tens of thousands of Chechens on Mr Putin’s orders, the West turned a blind eye saying that it was Russia's internal business. When Russian troops entered Georgia, the West remained passive again.

This new version of appeasement could not have resulted in anything other than conflict. That is because the mechanisms of totalitarianism remain the same now as they were seven decades ago. And the mechanisms of appeasement remain the same, too. Russia has committed atrocities and, unless it is stopped, images such as those seen in Bucha, Irpin and Mariupol will appear more often.

We in Poland have warned for more than a decade against a policy of appeasement towards Mr Putin's resurgent imperialistic aspirations but we have been met with suspicion and even contempt. Many European politicians, when they left politics, have been more interested in getting jobs with Russian energy companies than in helping us. But now the situation in Ukraine is a horror story, and the fate of the Ukrainian people and the future of the whole of Europe depend on our actions.

European countries have provided some economic aid to Ukraine, as well as weaponry. But there is so much more that could be done. Confiscation of any Russian assets and foreign reserves abroad would be a good place to start, with the proceeds used as a resource to help Ukraine. More weapons should also be sent to support the Ukrainian armed forces. Poland would like to supply, with NATO’s consent, all kinds of arms to its neighbour. In addition, all of Europe should also be coming together to make plans for rebuilding Ukraine after the war.


At the heart of the approach, however, must be sanctions. I have consistently and unceasingly appealed for maximum economic sanctions against Russia. But Europe, despite imposing some sanctions, is moving too slowly. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has put all its efforts into trying to defend the rouble. Partly as a result of European energy purchases, Russia has a current account surplus, and the rouble is stronger now than before the war. Weak sanctions, instead of strangling Russia’s economy, seem to be making it more resilient, as oil and gas prices have risen.

If we really want to stop Mr Putin, we have no choice but to deliver an economic shock. The EU must impose an embargo on Russian energy resources and exclude all Russian banks from the SWIFT system that enables the transfer of money. In addition, the international community must start collecting evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Only the toughest sanctions and the supplying of weapons to Ukraine will be able to stop the Russian army and defend Ukraine’s democracy and freedom. It will come at a cost to the people of Europe as the cost of energy would be likely to surge, but it is a small price to pay. The sooner we do this, the sooner the war will end.

The other thing that Ukraine’s neighbours need is direct economic help from the EU. It is time to follow the example of the individual volunteers who have come from all over Europe to Poland, Slovakia and Romania, contributing their time and their money to bring help and hope.

Ukrainians, who have found refuge in Poland since 2014 already constitute at least 7%, and perhaps 10%, of our country's population of 38m. Pictures of refugees around the world often show depressing images of people crammed into large makeshift camps. You do not see that in Poland, even though we have received around 2.8m people in less than two months.

The whole country is helping. Aid is being organised by the government, by NGOs and by millions of ordinary citizens. No one needed to be asked to contribute. Perhaps that is why the EU officials who have given €6bn ($6.5bn) to Turkey since 2016, as part of its deal to help handle refugees, do not feel the need to help Poland now. But such help is becoming more important by the week. So far we have received nothing but declarations.

Reallocating unused funds does not change anything. What is needed is a serious systemic solution. And the only way to achieve that is if the EU lives up to its values. The choice could hardly be simpler: either you support Ukraine or you support Russia. There is no middle ground. Those responsible for torture and war crimes should be cut off. Those who have not learned from the history of appeasement are doomed to repeat it.
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Mateusz Morawiecki is Poland’s prime minister.



应邀参加｜俄罗斯和乌克兰
波兰总理称西方对普京的姑息必须停止
马特乌斯-莫拉维茨基希望得到欧盟的更多支持

2022年4月23日


乌克兰的战争让我们意识到，尽管历史是一位好老师，但它有一些差劲的学生。一些西欧的政治家已经忘记了1938年慕尼黑协议所提供的教训。与当前局势的类比是惊人的。由当时的英国首相内维尔-张伯伦带头采取的绥靖政策，在一年内爆发了第二次世界大战。

2007年2月，在臭名昭著的慕尼黑会议近70年后，弗拉基米尔-普京公开宣布，他希望拆除欧洲的冷战后秩序。第二年，他袭击了格鲁吉亚。六年后，他占领了克里米亚，并在乌克兰东部的顿巴斯放火烧毁。又过了八年，他开始了其计划中迄今为止最血腥的阶段。历史的恶魔回来了。我们正再次目睹种族灭绝。


在这种环境下，西方的行为就像一只被轻轻煮沸的水中的青蛙。即使在俄罗斯加温的情况下，它也没有做出反应。1999年，当俄罗斯军队在普京先生的命令下将格罗兹尼夷为平地并杀害了数万名车臣人时，西方对此视而不见，说这是俄罗斯的内部事务。当俄罗斯军队进入格鲁吉亚时，西方再次保持被动。

这种新版的绥靖政策不可能导致任何其他的冲突。这是因为极权主义的机制现在和七十年前一样，没有变化。而绥靖的机制也仍然是一样的。俄罗斯已经犯下了暴行，除非它被制止，否则像在布卡、伊尔平和马里乌波尔看到的那些画面将更频繁地出现。

十多年来，我们波兰人一直警告不要对普京先生重新崛起的帝国主义愿望采取绥靖政策，但我们得到的是怀疑甚至是蔑视。许多欧洲政治家在离开政界时，更想在俄罗斯能源公司获得工作，而不是帮助我们。但现在，乌克兰的局势是一个恐怖的故事，乌克兰人民的命运和整个欧洲的未来都取决于我们的行动。

欧洲国家已经向乌克兰提供了一些经济援助，以及武器装备。但还有很多事情可以做。没收任何俄罗斯在海外的资产和外汇储备将是一个很好的开始，所得款项将作为资源用于帮助乌克兰。还应发送更多的武器来支持乌克兰武装部队。波兰希望在北约的同意下，向其邻国提供各种武器。此外，整个欧洲也应该一起制定战后重建乌克兰的计划。


然而，这一做法的核心必须是制裁。我一直不停地呼吁对俄罗斯进行最大限度的经济制裁。但欧洲尽管实施了一些制裁，但行动过于缓慢。与此同时，克里姆林宫将其所有的努力都放在了试图捍卫卢布上。部分是由于欧洲的能源采购，俄罗斯的经常账户有盈余，现在的卢布比战前更强。由于石油和天然气价格上涨，疲软的制裁非但没有扼杀俄罗斯的经济，似乎还使其更有弹性。

如果我们真的想阻止普京先生，我们别无选择，只能提供经济冲击。欧盟必须对俄罗斯的能源资源实施禁运，并将所有俄罗斯银行排除在实现资金转移的SWIFT系统之外。此外，国际社会必须开始收集俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争罪行的证据。只有最严厉的制裁和向乌克兰提供武器，才能阻止俄罗斯军队，捍卫乌克兰的民主和自由。这将使欧洲人民付出代价，因为能源成本将可能激增，但这是一个很小的代价。我们越早这样做，战争就会越早结束。

乌克兰的邻国需要的另一件事是来自欧盟的直接经济帮助。现在是时候效仿那些从欧洲各地来到波兰、斯洛伐克和罗马尼亚的个人志愿者，贡献他们的时间和金钱，带来帮助和希望。

自2014年以来，在波兰找到避难所的乌克兰人已经占到我国3800万人口的至少7%，甚至10%。世界各地的难民图片常常显示出人们挤在大型临时营地里的令人沮丧的画面。在波兰，你不会看到这种情况，尽管我们在不到两个月的时间里已经接收了大约280万人。

整个国家都在帮忙。政府、非政府组织和数百万普通公民都在组织援助。没有人需要被要求做出贡献。也许这就是为什么自2016年以来向土耳其提供了60亿欧元（65亿美元）的欧盟官员，作为其帮助处理难民的协议的一部分，他们觉得现在没有必要帮助波兰。但这种帮助每周都变得更加重要。到目前为止，我们只收到了声明。

重新分配未使用的资金并不能改变什么。现在需要的是一个严肃的系统性解决方案。而实现这一目标的唯一途径是欧盟要履行其价值观。选择再简单不过了：要么你支持乌克兰，要么你支持俄罗斯。没有任何中间地带。那些对酷刑和战争罪行负有责任的人应该被切断联系。那些没有从绥靖的历史中吸取教训的人，注定要重蹈覆辙。
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马特乌斯-莫拉维茨基是波兰的总理。