Vilnius-Warsaw tensions only useful to the Kremlin, Polish media figure says

Michnik discussed the importance of the Baltic Way and current events in Ukraine together with Baltic politicians, academics and public figures in Vilnius.

European Union’s Ambassador to Russia Vygaudas Ušackas thinks that propaganda prevents ordinary Russians from understanding that Ukraine can seek Euro-Atlantic integration.

“Watching the Russian news media, it looks to me that not only political elite, but also ordinary people who have familial, historical, economic and religious ties with Ukraine, have an approach that whatever Ukraine is now, it is part of the heritage of Russian history, and because of it Russia has some exclusive rights. And they find it difficult to understand how Ukraine can choose a different path than the one Russia deems is correct and useful to choose. There is an obvious antithesis of perceptions. And here we have to be realists, for with a help of propaganda this opinion is not going to change,” says Ušackas.

“When we see what is going on in Donetsk and Luhansk, we understand how preposterous disputes between Lithuania and Poland are. They are meaningless and harmful. There are politicians who work for the benefit of Putin’s policy. The demolition of good relations between Lithuania and Poland is beneficial only to imperialist policy of the Kremlin,” says Michnik.