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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Warsaw Accuses Paris, Berlin of Being too Close to Moscow

Ukraine's biggest national flag on the country's highest flagpole is seen at a compound of the World War II museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 16, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. (Reuters)

Poland's deputy prime minister accused France and Germany of being too close to Russia in an interview published Sunday, as he condemned Berlin's behavior towards Moscow before the invasion of Ukraine.

"Germany, like France, has a strong bias in Moscow's favor," Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is also leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, told German daily Die Welt in an interview.

Kaczynski saved his strongest words for Berlin, AFP said.

"Over the years, the German government did not want to see what Russia was doing under the leadership of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and we see the result today," Kaczynski said.

"Poland is not pleased with Germany's role in Europe," he added.

He rebuked Berlin for having sought to rebuild what the former 19th-century chancellor Otto von Bismarck "had done... German domination but side by side with Russia".

The Polish deputy prime minister condemned Berlin especially for failing to deliver enough weapons to Ukraine and refusing an embargo at least on the import of oil from Russia.

"It's important to know that Russia gets four to five times more revenue from its oil sales than gas sales," Kaczynski said.

"We cannot continue to permanently support a great power like Russia by paying it billions," he added.

Before Russia's invasion on February 24, Germany imported 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia, half its coal and around 35 percent of its oil.

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