Protesting Polish Farmers Ask Putin for Help

Mass protests by farmers against the EU’s agricultural policy and uncontrolled exports of Ukrainian wheat to Eastern European countries continue in Poland. Polish prosecutors opened a case after a photo of a Polish tractor with a red Soviet flag, hammer and sickle, and a banner asking for “help” from Russian President Vladimir Putin circulated on social media.

The farmer, a supporter of the Polish Communist Party, wrote on a white sheet of paper in Polish: “Putin, bring order to Ukraine, Brussels, and also meet with our rulers” (photo below). According to Polish law enforcement sources, the farmer, accused of “calling for the start of a war of aggression against Poland,” faces up to five years in prison.

In recent weeks, farmer protests have taken increasingly violent forms. Some trains carrying Ukrainian corn were stopped, after which the vans were broken into, and the grain was dumped on the ground. Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiski issued a stark warning to Polish farmers, calling attacks on trains “an unacceptable act, a crime.” In an interview with Polish Radio, he said: “Spreading on the ground the grains that have arrived from Ukraine is unacceptable. What has happened in some places, namely the dumping of Ukrainian grains, is a manifestation of anarchy in public life. Donald Tusk’s government does not intend to tolerate this.”