Andrzej Duda made the remark at the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine town, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Polish House pavilion, Duda said the war in Ukraine “prompted the realisation of some worst-case scenarios.”
He added: “Until recently, many experts in Western Europe would only smile when these scenarios were mentioned. We, the Polish people, among others, were outlining them very clearly.”
The Polish head of state told the panel that “Russia’s energy policy is not a business problem or an economic problem; it’s a political problem.”
'Energy company Gazprom is essentially Moscow’s military arm'
Duda added: “When I used to say that the energy company Gazprom is essentially Moscow’s military arm, tasked to gain economic advantages, above all in the strategic sense, and to help achieve dominance, many of my colleagues among European leaders would only smile.”
The president said during the discussion that “it was Poland that began to diversify its sources of energy with intent, after drawing a lesson from Russia’s energy blackmail against Ukraine.”
‘Poland’s independence from Russian gas is complete’
Duda stated: “Today, Poland has two-way gas interconnectors linking us with Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Germany. Today, first and foremost, in addition to the gas terminal in the northwestern port of Świnoujście, we also have a pipeline carrying gas from the Norwegian shelf through Denmark to Poland.”
He added: “In this way, we have ensured that we can meet virtually all of our demand from sources other than Russian supplies.”
The president stressed: “We can safely say that in this respect. Poland is an absolute European leader, a pioneer, especially in our part of Europe.”
“Today, our independence from Russian gas supplies is complete,” Duda also said during the discussion, which was entitled The Pathway to European Energy Sovereignty.
The 2023 World Economic Forum, attended by decision makers including Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin, runs until Friday.
Wednesday is day 329 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, forsal.pl, 300polityka.pl