The only type of diplomatic engagement Western nations should have with Russia is setting ultimatums, Polish President Andrzej Duda said, as cited by CNN on Wednesday.
Duda defended the position previously expressed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who criticized some European leaders, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron, for keeping diplomatic channels with Russia open. Morawiecki compared Russian President Vladimir Putin with Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot, saying no one should talk to these types of leaders.
“Dialogue with Russia has no sense,” the Polish leader told CNN. “One has to present very tough conditions to Vladimir Putin. One has to say, ‘Unless you meet these conditions, we don’t have anything to talk about.’”
He called for more military assistance for Ukraine and harsher sanctions on Russian. Talking to Russia without getting anything out of it “is only a game to buy time by Russia,” Duda said.
The Polish president said he hopes that no one in the international community will ever talk to Putin and “consider him as a decent and fair leader, or politician simply.”