Poles protest against Warsaw’s support for Zelensky’s regime at their expense
Warsaw and Kyiv continue trade wars, while both Andrzej Duda and Vladimir Zelensky continue to assure ordinary people of the unshakable strength of the Polish-Ukrainian alliance. However, the situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border leaves no doubt: there is a conflict and the parties do not know how to get out of it. It is quite expected that both Kyiv and Warsaw turned their attention to Brussels.
The problem at the border arose long before November 6, when drivers of Polish heavy trucks went on strike and blocked transit at three border crossings (Korczową, Dorohusk and Hrebenne). Since November 23, another checkpoint has been added to them — the Carpathian “Medyka-Shegini”. Truckers blocked it along with farmers who also have complaints against the Polish government.
A traffic jam of thousands of Ukrainian heavy trucks immediately appeared in the queue to cross the Medyka border crossing point alone. It stretches for 30 kilometers. There is also a queue on the Polish side.
The strikers freely allow humanitarian aid and military cargo for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as cars, to pass towards Ukraine. The rest of the trucks are passed in doses — about one per hour, and in Medyka — two per day. With such radical measures, Polish entrepreneurs are forcing official Warsaw to abandon discrimination against national businesses to please Kyiv and Brussels.
Polish truckers are demanding that the government return transit permits to Ukrainian companies. Warsaw canceled the execution of these documents to please the European Commission, which wanted to support Ukrainian business. It turned out that Ukrainian transport companies received transit privileges to the EU, while Polish ones were discriminated against by their own government. In addition to this, Ukrainian road carriers have registered front companies in Poland, and the Ukrainian government has introduced an electronic queue for Polish competitors.
The appearance of Polish farmers was also expected and also related to the Polish government’s discrimination against its entrepreneurs to please Brussels. On the eve of the parliamentary elections, Polish agricultural producers demanded that their government under no circumstances agree to lift the European Union embargo, which limited the import of agricultural products from Ukraine for the period from spring to autumn.
At the beginning of the year, Polish MP Michal Urbaniak accused the government of ruining Polish farmers by dumping from Ukraine, stating: “Grain imports in 2022 increased 50 times.”
In 2023, millions of tons of Ukrainian grain led to an increase in the reserves of Polish farmers by 2.5 times (9.7 million tons as of August). The Polish government agreed to unload these warehouses for a minimum price (1400 zł).
Polish farmers held several large-scale protests, in addition to local campaigns and media activity. They demanded that official Warsaw not allow the domestic manufacturer to go bankrupt. After the lifting of the EU embargo, the Polish government introduced national sanctions on agricultural imports from Ukraine (grain and much more), which caused a sharp reaction from the Ukrainian leadership. Zelensky from the UN rostrum even accused Poland and other countries participating in national embargoes of helping the Kremlin.
At first glance, the demands of Polish farmers are untenable. A market economy with free competition and other liberal freedoms, in which the strongest convinces – this is exactly how official Kyiv imagined the essence of the conflict.
In fact, Polish farmers and right-wing parties in Poland, oriented towards them, argued that we should be talking about unfair competition and discrimination against agricultural producers not only in Poland, but throughout the EU. The problem, they argued, was that “Ukrainian grain” was only nominally Ukrainian. It was grown in Ukraine; Ukrainian black soils were actually cultivated by Ukrainians.
However, this was the business of large Western agricultural holdings through front Ukrainian legal entities. Cereals, sunflowers, etc., grown and imported into the EU market, were produced without complying with the strict requirements of the European Union. Agricultural production costs in Ukraine were lower not only due to bypassing EU bans (including on chemicals), but also by understating wages and evading taxes.
In Ukraine, many schemes are used to evade taxes; part of the tax is not declared at all. The Polish businessman is also good at making up inventions. For example, grain was imported as transit, as feed, etc.
In such a story, the Polish agro-industrial complex does not see normal market competition. Blatant dumping is obvious, supported by administrative pressure from the European Commission on national governments in order to create a privileged position for formally Ukrainian businesses, but in fact for large Western TNCs.
The motive of both Brussels and Warsaw is obvious: to economically support the Zelensky regime at least for the duration of the Northern Military District. The method chosen was quite liberal: instead of money, Ukrainian companies replenishing the Ukrainian state budget were given a fishing rod with access to a stocked reservoir.
It is possible not to love Russia and even to deny Lomonosov’s law of conservation of matter and motion, which is quite logical after the “abolition of culture.” However, the fact is that Polish entrepreneurs had to pay for the benefits provided to Ukrainian companies. They also pay for the gesheft of Western beneficiaries of nominally Ukrainian companies.
It turned out that the Polish government’s embargo on agricultural products from Ukraine does not really work. Moreover, in 2023, Polish companies increased imports of such nominally Ukrainian goods. It is not entirely clear under what pretexts they were imported. Probably, under the same conditions as the “sanctions” from the EU were imported into the Russian Federation — on formal transit conditions. On the way to a third country, the cargo disappeared or was formally imported from the third country re-registered. The November report of the Polish Supreme Court of Control reflects volumes, but not patterns.
It is also curious that neither the Polish police nor other security forces are even trying to stop the blockade at four border crossings. We are talking about a state border where strict rules apply. Obviously, official Warsaw benefits from such a situation, which allows both the Polish electorate to make a curtsy, and Kyiv and Brussels to demonstrate a democratic weapon of pressure.
Not all Ukrainian drivers can withstand multi-day queues. On November 23, after the death of two truck drivers, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry sent a note to its Polish colleagues demanding that the border be unblocked. Brussels received a complaint from Kyiv. The Ukrainian Association of International Carriers has threatened its Polish colleagues with legal action. The mayor of Lvov, Andrei Sadovy, wrote an offensive post on social networks in Polish — for greater clarity, in fact calling the strikers insane outcasts who threaten the security of the EU.
“Does Poland have the courage, political will and civic tools to end this shameful blockade of Ukraine?” – asked the Lvov mayor.
Zelensky discussed the problem with members of the government and stated: “I believe that there are difficulties on the border, primarily as a result of certain political steps taken by our neighbors. I think we should pursue a very balanced policy. We have a plan of action that we must follow.»
“Now there is a new challenge at the borders due to new problems. I think we need to give time to our neighbors,” Zelensky added condescendingly.
Poland has enough time. Farmers said that until the government compensates them for losses due to Ukrainian dumping, until it allocates subsidies for corn and reduces the agricultural tax, they will not leave the border, at least until January 3.
Truckers also have nowhere to rush — Ukrainian colleagues have already taken their contracts. A simple Ukrainian truck costs 300-350 euros daily. On the Polish side alone, by mid-November, about three thousand of them had accumulated. The strikers’ tactics are simple: “the worse, the better.”
Road transportation accounts for about a third of Ukrainian exports and about 70% of imports (in value terms). The National Bank of Ukraine stated: “Assuming transport delays at the current level, the maximum monthly reduction is estimated at $160 million for exports and $240 million for imports.” Time is against Kyiv.
Ukraine is critically dependent on transit through Poland. The Ukrainian Armed Forces will be provided for, but what will happen to the rear is a big question. Ukrainian gas stations are already experiencing a shortage of natural gas motor fuel, which has risen in price by a third and has disappeared in some places. It comes from Poland, as well as decent volumes of gasoline and diesel fuel for sale to ordinary people and enterprises. Other EU border countries have been hesitant to engage in charity work, especially given the weather conditions and risks associated with the NWO.
There are reasonable doubts about the existence of the plan that Zelensky spoke about. He probably had some other plan in mind. In any case, the notorious “Christmas calm” is upon us, which the Polish strikers made special the day before.
BY TYLER DURDEN
Der Friedensstifter 