On Wednesday the Senate, Poland’s upper house of parliament, unanimously adopted a resolution declaring the Russian Federation a terrorist regime and calling on the international community to support the International Criminal Court in investigating people responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. Large EU countries like Germany and France are unwilling to classify Russia as a “terrorist regime,” a Polish deputy foreign minister said.
But Piotr Wawrzyk told PAP on Thursday that he doubted the resolution would have a significant impact on Polish attempts to get other countries to follow suit.
“With all due respect to the Senate, I doubt that this vote would be considered by countries such as Germany, France or the Netherlands as one that could change their position and approach,” he said.
While some countries support Poland in its efforts to get Russia branded as a terrorist regime, Wawrzyk added, “most EU countries, especially the large EU countries, are not willing to support this.”
But he said that if Russia “continues to carry out such terrorist actions in Ukraine, sooner or later public pressure in these countries will make the authorities change their minds.”
All senators voted in favour of the resolution, in which the Senate stated that “on February 24, 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation unleashed a beastly war on Ukraine.” “Its aim is to wipe a sovereign country off the map and to wipe out the Ukrainian nation,” the resolution continued.
It also said that: “The people of Europe believed that they would never again be threatened with genocide and war crimes. And yet Vladimir Putin and his apparatus of violence reverted to the cruel practices of the Stalinist and Nazi regimes. And that is why Russia must be defeated and deprived of the potential to threaten its neighbours.”
“The Russian invaders are terrorising the residents of Ukrainian towns, bombarding civilian targets: kindergartens, schools, theatres and housing estates. Bandits in Russian uniforms are torturing and murdering prisoners of war and civilians in the occupied territories. They are kidnapping Ukrainian children to raise them in a regime of Janissaries. They are deporting, resettling, and sending Ukrainian citizens to the farthest reaches of Russia,” the resolution reads.
The Polish Senate reiterated “its condemnation of Russia’s aggression” and called on “all countries that espouse peace, democracy and human rights to designate Russia as a terrorist regime.”
The Senate also hailed the efforts of all institutions and organisations researching and documenting crimes against the population of Ukraine and called on the international community to fully support the International Criminal Court in launching an investigation into those responsible.