Poland needs Ukraine crisis settled soon so economic relations can normalize - ambassador
MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) - Poland needs the earliest possible settlement of the Ukrainian crisis for the resumption of normal economic relations with Russia, the Polish ambassador in Moscow said.
"It's very important for Poland that it should be resolved because it creates not only very specific security challenges to us but also economic challenges. Poland is one of the countries that, due to their economic ties with Russia, would like a solution to this problem to be found as soon as possible and normal economic cooperation to be resumed," Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz told Interfax.
Asked what she thought about the possibility of the European Union lifting or mitigating its anti-Russian sanctions, she said "everything will depend of what happens" in eastern Ukraine.
"If there is any real progress, it will lead not only to the mitigation of the Polish policy but also to a decision by the entire European Union to lift the sanctions. But that will absolutely definitely depend on what happens in eastern Ukraine," Pelczynska-Nalecz said.
"Poland today has 100% support for the position of Brussels, namely the need to put the Minsk agreements into reality," she said.
The EU sanctions and Russia's retaliatory ban on imports of EU food have had little effect on the Polish economy, the ambassador argued. However, "sanctions are always a negative factor, and in Poland they are always seen as something that puts heavy restrictions on us but has higher strategic considerations behind it," she said.
"It isn't having any serious impact on the economy as a whole, and next year the Polish economy will even grow faster than foreseen," but "there are specific entrepreneurs and firms that have cooperated with Russia and have been affected by the sanctions or countersanctions," the diplomat said.
"For that part of the business community this deterioration of economic relations and these sanctions are a serious problem," she said.
