Poland Ready for Constructive Cooperation With Russia

WARSAW (Sputnik) — Poland is ready for constructive cooperation with Russia and is taking steps in this direction, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Thursday.

"We are open to constructive cooperation, and we are undertaking steps to change the current situation, in which we find ourselves," Waszczykowski said during the presentation of the Polish Foreign Ministry’s plans for 2017, stressing the intention to restore cooperation with Russia.

Waszczykowski spoke during an official event on the occasion of the resumption of the work of the Polish part of Russian-Polish Group on Difficult Issues, which was held in Warsaw.

The Polish-Russian group on difficult matters was established in 2002. Its purpose was to explain the "white spots" in bilateral relations in the context of historical events without politicizing them. The work of the group was halted in 2015 when the group’s head, Adam Rotfeld, left his post.

In February 2017, the Polish Foreign Ministry expressed the intention to resume the work of the group. The initiator of the move was Ambassador of Poland to Russia Wlodzimierz Marciniak.

Relations between Russia and Poland deteriorated in 2014 amid the crisis in Ukraine, when the European Union introduced several rounds of sanctions against Moscow over its alleged meddling in the conflict. Russia denied the accusations.

In February, Waszczykowski said Russian actions in Eastern Europe were "aggressive," but called for developing public dialogue, interpersonal contacts, cultural cooperation and restoration of bilateral economic cooperation.