There is a document on Russian demands
A recently declassified memo from 2008 confirms that the Russians expected Donald Tusk not to oppose the construction of the Nord Stream pipeline at an EU forum. Interestingly that same year, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak boasted that he was moving away from the PiS policy of criticizing Nord Stream and allowing this controversial project to move forward. This pro-Russian state of affairs lasted for years. Back in 2015, Radoslaw Sikorski mocked Law and Justice (PiS) leaders for not joining Vladimir Putin’s gas pipeline construction project.
Journalist Michał Rachoń in his Polish TV program “We’re on our way” (Pol.: Jedziemy), published another excerpt from a declassified 2008 memo of the Polish military services from the embassy in Moscow. Polish military diplomats wrote in 2008 that the Russians expected the Polish government to be passive regarding the Nord Stream undertaking.
The idea was that the German-Russian project, which was unfavorable to Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic States, was to be implemented without any obstacles.
“The Russian side should, in this regard, submit certain official guarantees that the Northern Gas Pipeline is not a project constructed against Poland’s interests and should invite her again to participate in this project,” read the document.
Interestingly in 2006, the Secretary of State of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ryszard Schnepf, parted ways with the Law and Justice government because he recommended the concept of Poland joining the construction of the Northern Gas Pipeline. At that time, Polish politicians from the Civic Platform party emphasized that “The Polish PIS government rejects German proposals of joining the gas pipeline project for completely incomprehensible reasons.” Lech Kaczyński, who opposed the dependence on Russian resources, was of a completely different opinion.
Despite the passage of years, the gas pipeline continued to divide the Polish politicians of the Law and Justice party (PiS), the Civic Platform (PO), and the PSL.
Pawlak is in favor of cooperation with Russia.
When Russia and Germany were pushing for a gas pipeline to be laid at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, Waldemar Pawlak argued that Vladimir Putin’s regime should send the blue fuel via the Baltic States and Poland.
“It will be much cheaper this way,” said the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy.
At the same time, he criticized the Law and Justice party for… opposition to Nord Stream. “Previously, the Polish side presented a clear, critical view and unequivocally opposed this project. Our government has taken such measures to create opportunities for an alternative project,” said Pawlak.
Sikorski: The Law and Justice (PiS) party was opposed to the Nord Stream project
Leading politicians of Civic Platform (PO) spent years attacking PiS representatives for not going into business with Vladimir Putin. Back in 2015, Radosław Sikorski, then head of the Foreign Ministry, wrote: “The PiS government was in opposition to the Nord Stream project. It was a mistake not to join in when it became clear that we could not stop it.”
He pointed out that we could have gotten a seat on the management board, and the pipeline could have run through our country. “But the official who hinted about this was brutally removed,” Sikorski lamented on social media.
