Kowal, who is also the government’s envoy for Ukraine’s reconstruction, told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily the content of any such agreement was unclear. He said a role for US firms in trading Russian gas would funnel money to President Vladimir Putin and, over time, raise costs for Washington.
He said Poland’s absence from three-way talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine reflected a format run outside traditional diplomatic channels, which he called a Kremlin idea that lets Putin pose as a co-architect of a new world order. Talks should move to formal channels such as the US State Department, he said.
Kowal played down the risk of a Russian diplomatic win, saying Putin answers to China and that India and the European Union would not accept Moscow posing as an equal of Washington and Beijing.
“Even if someone again rolls out a red carpet for Putin, I won’t cry and declare the end of the world, because I will know that it is theatre”, he said.
Carving out spheres of influence on Poland’s eastern border and keeping Ukraine outside Western structures would pose a “huge structural threat” to Poland, Kowal said. Ukrainian disappointment could be exploited by Russia, he said, and a country with a large veteran army, millions of privately held weapons and wrecked infrastructure could cause Poland serious problems within a decade.
He said he supported a new Polish-Ukrainian treaty but that conditions were not right for such a broad accord.
On bilateral ties, Kowal saw stability. “The worst is behind us”, he said of shifts in public mood. He did not expect Poland’s election campaign to reignite tensions, saying efforts by part of the Confederation party and the circle around Grzegorz Braun to exploit anti-Ukrainian sentiment had gained little traction.
“People do not want escalation”, he said.
(jh)
Source: PAP