Russian ambassador louds empire in anti-Polish speech at Połack university

September 23, BPN. Moscow and Minsk together should “suppress any attempts by Western provocateurs to drive a wedge into the union of fraternal nations,” Russian Ambassador Boris Gryzlov told historians at a conference on partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at Połack State University.

He claimed that the Russian Empire “liberated the orthodox Belarusian lands from centuries-long Polish-Lithuanian oppression” 250 years ago. Russians and Belarusians “could once again live as one family, forging our common greatness and power, first within the boundaries of the empire, then of the Soviet Union,” he added.

“Warsaw and Vilnius are at the forefront of the Russophobic and anti-Belarusian mainstream, constantly initiating new sanctions and restrictions,” the Russian embassy’s press office quoted Gryzlov. He said that the western neighbors’ hatred for Russia and Belarus made them “destroy their own economy and cause impoverishment of their own people.”

The diplomat also accused Poland and Lithuania of seeking revenge for the Belarusian lands that Russia “liberated and in fact de-occupied” in the 18th century and in 1939.