In an interview published on Wednesday by British newspaper The Financial Times, Duda referred to Putin’s words last month in which the Russian leader suggested that Poland was partly responsible for the outbreak of World War II.
Duda dismissed the claim as “a complete distortion of historical truth."
"We give it a very direct name, it is an ideology, it is a kind of post-Stalinist revisionism,” he said.
He added: "Some claim that this is propaganda-based hybrid warfare … Some experts claim that Putin’s words are used for the purpose of internal propaganda. For us, it doesn’t make a difference. For us, what matters is that this historical lie is being spread around the world. And we can absolutely not accept this."
The Polish president said earlier this month he would not take part in the World Holocaust Forum planned for January 23 because the organisers had not allowed him to speak at the event, unlike his counterparts from Russia, Israel, Germany and France.
According to The Financial Times, Duda said that the refusal to allow him to speak was not because of any breach in Polish-Israeli relations, as the event in Yad Vashem was being held by a private organisation rather than the state of Israel.
But he added that Putin’s recent allegations have made the situation in which the Russian president would be able to speak, while his Polish counterpart would not, untenable.
“Frankly speaking, in this context, my absence in Yad Vashem ... is a protest against the distortion of history by the Russian president,” Duda was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
In the interview, Duda also warned against attempts to ease the sanctions against Russia which the European Union imposed on the country’s energy, finance and defence sectors after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that in the 21st century, Russia is shifting borders in Europe by force,” Duda said.
He added: “We do not agree with policies that would lead to attempts at easing sanctions or lifting them and returning to business as usual with Russia. We believe that such behaviour will only embolden the aggressive behaviour of Russia, as the last 12 years have shown, starting with Russia’s attack on Georgia in 2008.”
(jh/gs)
Source: The Financial Times