Polish president on stripping Zelenskyy of order: Poles' pain threshold has been exceeded
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has stated that he deprived Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle because the Poles' "pain threshold" had been exceeded.
Source: Nawrocki on 20 June during the celebration of the National Day of Silesian Uprisings, as reported by European Pravda citing TVN 24
Details: Nawrocki noted that Poles know what the struggle for independence is and what the Russian threat is, but that what Zelenskyy did crossed the "pain threshold".
He said that during the whole of the 20th century, Poland was free for only 31 years; the rest of the time it was resisting domination by foreign powers.
Quote: "We were either fighting Soviet troops in 1920, or suffering as victims of German and Soviet totalitarianism, or resisting the Soviet colonisers after 1945 right up until 1989.
Yes, we know what war is, we know what the struggle for independence is, we know what the post-Soviet – and today the Russian – threat is, but we are a proud Polish nation, and we have our own pain threshold in matters concerning us and our allies. And this pain threshold has been exceeded; that is why I have deprived President Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle."
Background:
- On the evening of 19 June, Nawrocki took the decision to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle in connection with the naming of a Ukrainian military unit after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He said Poland would not allow EU accession for those who do not understand the need to renounce the "cult of totalitarianism and violence".
- Following this, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar, and Head of the President's Office Kyrylo Budanov announced that they would be returning the Polish state awards they had received.
- On 20 June, Zelenskyy said he had sent the order back to Nawrocki by post.
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