Poland has launched a campaign called ‘Stop Russia now!’ to “remind” other European Union members about the situation in Ukraine and convince them to introduce tougher sanctions against Moscow, its Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Saturday. The effort will feature mobile billboards displaying photos from Ukrainian cities that will be sent to various locations.
Morawiecki has also said he would himself travel to EU capitals to remind decision makers “what is happening in Ukraine.” The campaign, which will also include social media posts, according to the prime minister, “has to contribute decisively to ensuring that Europe is not a Europe of indifference, helplessness, that it is not a Europe of defeat,” he has added. Nations in western and southern Europe are willing to return to “normality” too “soon,” Morawiecki has said, adding that the campaign is aimed at “awakening the conscience” of the bloc.
Photos placed on the mobile billboards by the Polish authorities juxtapose the devastation of Ukrainian cities against peaceful life in Europe. Every billboard also has a slogan reading “Stop Russia now!” A separate billboard says that “blood oil fuels Russia’s genocide of Ukraine.”
“Germany, France, Austria, Italy: these countries must do as much as possible to stop the war in Ukraine,” Morawiecki told the media during a press conference at the National Stadium in Warsaw, speaking about his upcoming visit to European capitals and the aims of the campaign.
The prime minister has admitted that sanctions imposed by the EU, US and their allies so far have had little effect on Russia. “Look at the ruble exchange rate; what is happening with the Russian economy. Nothing special is happening there,” he said, adding that restrictions might have some effect, but only in the long run.