The Polish Sejm recognized Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” on the second attempt.
On the second attempt, the Polish Sejm adopted a resolution recognizing Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" by a single majority. Opposition MPs did not participate in the vote, and two MPs from the Confederation party were against, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
On the evening of December 14, the Sejm (lower house of parliament) of Poland adopted a resolution naming the Russian Federation a “state sponsor of terrorism.” 231 out of 460 deputies voted for this - the minimum required majority. At the same time, the ruling party “Law and Justice” (PiS) gave only 225 votes (3 deputies did not vote), and the remaining six were provided by 5 defectors from the collapsed faction “Kukiz’15” and one who entered the Sejm from the Polish People’s Party. Two deputies from the right-wing conservative Confederation faction, Grzegorz Brown and Dobromir Sośnież, voted against. The remaining deputies did not take part in the voting.
The resolution states that “ the Russian Federation systematically violates human rights, international law and the Charter of the United Nations and a number of other obligations ,” committing aggression on the territory of other countries, “ armed attacks, war crimes and genocide ,” and undertaking “ hostile economic activities, especially in the energy sector .”
“The forms of terror used by Russia against Ukrainian citizens are crimes against humanity and genocide,” the document says.
In the document, changing borders by force is called a “crime against peace,” which is especially poignant in the case of present-day Poland, which received a third of its territory at the expense of Germany in 1945.
Opposition MPs stressed before the vote that they support the condemnation of Russia, but will not vote for the amendment pushed through by PiS, blaming Moscow for the crash of a Polish government plane in 2010. It reads:
“The Russian Federation is directly responsible for the crash of Polish Air Force Flight 101 in Smolensk in April 2010, which killed 96 people on board, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Polish officials, senior Polish military and military commanders -NATO members, as well as members of the Polish parliament."
The fact is that PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the deceased Polish President Lech Kaczynski, is paranoid that the crash was the result of sabotage - although a Polish government commission proved that it was caused by the actions of the pilots. In addition to Russia, Jaroslaw Kaczynski has repeatedly and publicly placed responsibility for the Smolensk tragedy on the then Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, now the de facto leader of the main opposition party, the Civic Coalition.
It is worth noting that Polish legislation does not contain the term “state sponsor of terrorism”, that is, the resolution is a purely political document and will not entail legal consequences. Apparently, for Jaroslaw Kaczynski, two points are important in the decision: the “Smolensk” amendment and the demonstration that PiS, even without a sole majority in the Sejm, can accept any documents in it.
As PolitNavigator reported , the upper house of the Polish parliament (the Senate) adopted a resolution on October 26 calling the Russian authorities a "terrorist regime."
The Polish Sejm has, on its second attempt, recognized Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism."