Disquiet on the eastern front

The tug-of-war over the Russian ban on Polish meat continues despite Poland's proposal to withdraw its veto on EU-Russian negotiations in return for a guaranteed lifting of the meat embargo. Russia responded coldly to the proposal, with Russia's veterinary oversight body commenting on a need to control Poland's meat production plants and President Putin's advisor Sergei Yastrzhembsky accusing Poland of "making a secondary technical issue into a political one."

To make things worse, new issues have appeared in Polish-Russian relations - new-old problems caused by the awakened "ghosts of history." The International Auschwitz Council and the museum in the former concentration camp have wrangled over the Russian exhibition in the Auschwitz Museum, refusing to accept the labeling of Poles and Jews from Polish territories occupied by the Soviet Union as "Soviet citizens." Russian daily Kommersant immediately accused Poles of "re-writing history" and "blackmailing Russia over the heads of Auschwitz victims."

With leaders who are very sensitive about national pride and history ruling both countries, a compromise will not come easily. President Kaczyński does not want to back down from his tough policy towards Russia and risk losing credibility. On the other hand, it seems that President Putin, dreaming about restoring Russia to superpower status and disassembling the current unipolar world order, is unlikely to see compromise with a small country like Poland as anything but a humiliation. Thus, it is hard to expect Russia to agree to the latest Polish proposal.

It seems that any possible breakthrough in the Polish-Russian meat ban negotiations is only possible with the EU playing an active role. As far as the Auschwitz situation is concerned, the ghosts of history will continue to haunt the bilateral relations as long as Russia refuses to deal with its imperial past. It is not only Polish hysteria as many in the West believe - last year Ukraine had a huge argument with Moscow over the Great Famine of the 1930s. No breakthrough should be expected in this field in the near future, though this doesn't mean that it should overshadow healthy day-to-day economic relations.