Opposition condemns government for issuing 1,700 visas to Russians amid Ukraine war

The opposition has criticised the government over official figures that show more than 1,700 Polish visas have been issued to Russians in 2022 and 2023. A foreign ministry official, however, says they went to people “fleeing Putin’s regime” who have been “thoroughly vetted”.

At a press conference in parliament today, Marcin Kierwiński, an MP from the centrist Civic Platform (PO), announced that they had received data from the foreign ministry on the number of visas issued under the government’s “Poland Business Harbour” scheme, which aims to attract foreign IT specialists to Poland.

The figures show that last year 1,247 visas were issued to Russians under the programme while this year’s figure was 467 by the end of September. A further 65,000 visas have been issued to citizens of Belarus – whose government is a Kremin ally – under the programme during that period.

“What can you be thinking to bring Russian IT specialists to Poland after Russia attacked Ukraine? What can you be thinking to manage Polish security so irresponsibly?” asked Kierwiński, quoted by news website Onet.

“Maybe they are spies, maybe agents, maybe people who are supposed to spread misinformation,” claimed the opposition MP, adding that such people could have been employed to “work on critical and IT infrastructure”.

“This is the whole truth about [Prime Minister Mateusz] Morawiecki’s government; this is a government that acts in foreign interests,” said Kierwiński.

In response, deputy foreign ministry Paweł Jabłoński tweeted that the visas pertain to “a few hundred people fleeing Russia from Putin’s regime, [who were] thoroughly checked by [Poland’s] Internal Security Agency”.

In September last year, the Polish government announced that it had closed its borders to Russians with visas to enter the Schengen European travel zone. But it said that exceptions would be made for some categories, such as opponents of Putin’s regime.

Later that month, Poland refused entry to dozens of Russians trying to cross its land borders, saying they “may be dangerous to our country”.

In his statement today, Jabłoński provided data from 2010-15 – when PO was previously in power – showing how many visas were issued by Poland annually to Russians. The total for those six years was over 1.1 million.

The latest opposition accusations are “hypocrisy and a smokescreen for their own pro-Putin policies” under Donald “Tusk’s pro-Russian government”, said the minister.

PiS has regularly claimed that PO was too friendly towards Russia during its time in power and that it continues to represent foreign – rather than Polish – interests.

Migration and national security have become central to the campaign for Sunday’s parliamentary elections. PiS argues that it is the only party that can be trusted to defend Poland’s borders and ensure its security.

However, the opposition accuses the government of hypocrisy: of campaigning against immigration while letting in record numbers of immigrants, including through corruption in the visa system; and of undermining security by politicising the military and other security services.

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: Slawomir Kaminski / 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.