The former president has lost his ability to soberly assess the situation. He will probably do all he can to stay popular. But this interview goes beyond the limits of decency and shows that Lech Wałęsa can no longer see anything but his EGO. In an interview for the Russian portal Sputnik Lech Wałęsa decided to talk about his vision of relations with Moscow. He referred to his relations with the former president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, and he could not compliment enough the current President Vladimir Putin.

Putin is a wise man, but he does not get such arguments as Yeltsin received from me

— stated the former president with great confidence.

It is worth recalling that the Sputnik service has repeatedly „allowed” into the Polish media pro-Russian and Kremlin-friendly content.

In an interview Wałęsa recalls his good relations with President Yeltsin. He also mentions that if he hadn’t lost the presidential elections with Aleksander Kwasniewski, relations with Russia would be much better than they are at present. Lech Wałęsa, adopting a role of a sage, started giving advice to Boris Yeltsin. What kind of advice? Typical of Wałęsa:

I say this to him: Sir! Russia is a beautiful country. Russia is like a car: Mercedes, Ford. Beautiful! But you have loaded some kind of lumber on this beautiful car, armchairs, when one moves, you know. And this Russia is not visible at all. Sir, make sure you get rid of all the lumber!

In his opinion, Polish-Russian relations must improve:

We have to get along. We have to understand each other. Both parties.

Apart from the fact that Wałęsa said that Putin is a wise man, he answered the question of the chairman whether he would come to Russia:

If I had an invitation, I would go. Of course! Sir, get an invitation for me and I will go. I see no contraindications.

Wałęsa also stressed that he did not approve of the current pro-American course in Polish foreign policy.

We are closer to Moscow than to New York

— he emphasized.

And so not long ago he sought help in the United States by parading in a T-shirt with the imprint „konstytycja” at the funeral of President George H.W. Bush senior….

Lech Wałęsa’s spokesman tries to excuse his behaviour and retrieve the situation. He wrote on Twitter:

Russia is our neighbour and nobody will change that. Polish-Russian relations will always be controversial, regardless of the Smolensk disaster. It is logical that Mr. President @President Wałęsa will not refuse an interview to anyone, expressing his opinion on every political subject.

Tłum. KJ