Bush makes peace between Russia and Poland

Yesterday, Polish President Lech Kaczynski unexpectedly spoke at length about the possibility of a meeting with Vladimir Putin. He did this at the Warsaw airport immediately after returning from the USA. The reason was two things. Firstly, people in Warsaw are surprised that the Russian president spoke of Poland “with great respect” when answering a question from a Polish journalist at a press conference in the Kremlin at the end of January. Then Vladimir Putin said that “Poles and Russians are actually one family.” Secondly, during Kaczynski’s meeting with US President Bush, relations between Warsaw and Moscow were discussed in detail.

There was even an impression that George Bush could act as a mediator - the Polish side is relying on the excellent contacts between the American president and his Russian colleague. Lech Kaczynski, after negotiations with Bush, said: “There are chances for improvement in Poland’s relations with Russia.”

However, regarding a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin, the Polish president made it clear that the time has not yet come: “Mr. President Putin spoke positively about Poland for the first time after a long period. I said earlier that there are no objective reasons for bad Polish-Russian relations. And that's all for now. Let's see how this develops." The day before, Kaczynski clarified that his first meeting with the Russian president could not take place either in Moscow or Warsaw, only in a third country.

Valery MASTEROV, staff correspondent for the Moscow News newspaper in Warsaw, for Vremya Novostei