Lithiuania’s Gitanas Nauseda, and Poland’s Duda are expected to commemorate Poland's 1863 January Uprising against Russia, as well as discuss cooperation in the Three Seas Initiative, ahead of the format’s summit scheduled to be held in April in Vilnius.
Duda and Nauseda are also to talk about Ukraine’s EU and NATO aspirations.
The Polish President’s office stressed that while the commemoration ceremony has been held in Warsaw last year it has become a tradition that both Presidents meet on that day. They are also expected to be joined by Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouska, and representatives of Ukraine.
In 1863 “Lithuania and Poland have fought hand in hand for their independence against Russian imperialism,” the President’s office also said in a statement.
It’s the second meeting between Duda and Nauseda this week, as both Presidents held a bilateral talk during the World Economic Forum in Davos several days ago.
The 1863 revolt, though unsuccessful, paved the way for the country’s hard-won sovereignty in 1918.
The January Uprising broke out on January 22, 1863 when a provisional national government issued a manifesto in which it appealed to all Poles to take up arms against czarist Russia.
The insurgency became the largest and longest of Poland's armed struggles for independence during the 19th century. It comprised more than 1,000 battles and skirmishes fought by some 200,000 insurgents.
Over 30,000 insurgents were killed during the bloody one-and-a-half-year-long struggle and some 40,000 were deported to Russia’s remote Siberia region, according to military historians.
Poland ultimately regained independence on November 11, 1918, the day World War I ended, after 123 years of being partitioned by Russia, Austria and Prussia.
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Source: IAR
