“We need agreement with Putin to end Ukraine war,” says Polish far-right presidential candidate

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Far-right presidential candidate Sławomir Mentzen has called for an agreement with Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He also said that Poles must stop letting Ukraine treat them as “suckers” instead of partners.

Speaking to broadcaster Polsat on Tuesday, Mentzen praised Donald Trump for “wanting to bring peace to Ukraine” and criticised Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to compromise.

“We need to somehow come to an agreement with Putin to end this conflict,” said Mentzen, who is the candidate for the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party. He has recently been rising rapidly in the polls, with support now at around 17%, putting him third in the race.

In international relations, “terms have always been dictated by the strong”, continued Mentzen. “Europe must grow up” and stop “dealing with stupid things” like “the fight against carbon dioxide and censoring freedom of speech”.

“Politicians from Europe must understand that in war, it is strength that counts, not tweets or writing with crayons on the pavement,” he continued. “Russia acted terribly and attacked Ukraine because it could. Because Europe is so weak.”

Mentzen also argued that Poland, which has been one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, should have made its help conditional on Ukraine meeting certain demands.

“Yes, it is profitable for us for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, which is why Poles help Ukraine,” he told Polsat. “Not out of sympathy, but because it is simply profitable for us. And in the process, it would have been possible to negotiate many things important for Poland and for Poles.”

Instead, he argued, Polish leaders have allowed Ukraine to treat Poles as “suckers” instead of partners. He and his party have long been critical of the level of support Poland has given to Ukraine and to Ukrainian refugees.

“We send weapons to Ukraine, we send money, we send social benefits [to Ukrainian refugees in Poland], we provide medical treatment for free in Poland to Ukrainians who do not even have medical insurance, while Poles have to pay, and in return we receive slander, they insult us and show absolutely no gratitude.”

Mentzen also argued that, if Russia attacked Poland, he does not believe that Ukraine would come to its defence.

Regarding what demands he would make to Kyiv, Mentzen said that, as well as economic concessions, he would “force” Ukraine to end the “cult of Bandera” and to allow the exhumations of Polish victims of the Volhynia massacres in World War Two.

Stepan Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist leader who is revered as a hero by many in Ukraine but is regarded in Poland as responsible for genocide. Followers of Bandera were responsible for the Volhynia massacres, in which around 100,000 ethnic Poles were murdered.

Last month, Mentzen got into a dispute with the mayor of Lviv after visiting the Ukrainian city and criticising the presence of a monument there to Bandera. The mayor called Mentzen a “pro-Russian politician with a Polish passport”.

Speaking yesterday to Polsat, Mentzen said that “it is a disgrace” that neither the current government, a coalition led by Donald Tusk, nor the previous one, led by the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, did anything to tackle the “cult of Bandera” in Ukraine.

“An agreement must be built on truth, and Ukraine is not ready for truth at this moment,” he declared.

In December, PiS, now in opposition, submitted a proposed law banning the glorification of Bandera in Poland. It would place “Banderism” alongside Nazism, fascism and communism, propagation of which is already punishable under Poland’s criminal code by up to three years in prison.

In January, Tusk announced a “breakthrough” on the issue of exhuming the remains of victims of the Volhynia massacres, which Ukraine has banned since 2017. Exhumations are now set to resume, with the first likely to take place this spring.

Mentzen has recently seen his support rise to an average of around 17% in polls, placing him third in the running behind Rafał Trzaskowski (34%) of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO), and Karol Nawrocki (23%), who is supported by PiS.

If no candidate wins over 50% of the vote in the election on 18 May, the top two proceed to a second-round run-off on 1 June.

Nawrocki and many in PiS have also recently taken a harder line towards Ukraine, with one senior party figure recently saying that Zelensky acted like a “fool” when meeting Trump at the White House.

Tusk and his ruling coalition, by contrast, have joined other European leaders in rallying in support of Ukraine while also emphasising the importance of maintaining close relations with Washington.

Weekly rolling average of support in polls compiled by ewybory.eu

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Patryk Ogorzalek / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.