Protest against “terrorist Russia” outside Russian embassy in Warsaw

A large protest has taken place outside Russia’s embassy in Warsaw, with participants calling for Russia to be recognised as a terrorist state and to face a tougher economic embargo. Other demonstrations took place in the cities of Kraków and Kielce.

Between two and three thousand people attended the event in Warsaw, according to estimates by broadcaster TVN. It lasted over two hours and remained peaceful, ending with the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem, reports Polsat News.

“With each day of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Russia commits more and more macabre terrorist acts against Ukraine and Ukrainians,” wrote the organisers, Euromaidan Warsaw, on the event’s Facebook page.

“The bombing of a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, missile attacks on civilian buildings in Kyiv, Ochakiv, Cherkasy, Dnipro, Mykolaiv,” they continued. “The world must recognise that Russia is a terrorist state.”

The organisers also called for a tougher economic embargo on Russia, to make it a pariah state like North Korea, Iran or Cuba.

TVN notes that most of those in attendance in Warsaw appeared to be refugees from Ukraine. Poland has been the main destination for those fleeing the Russian invasion, with over one million currently estimated to be living in the country.

The events were held on 17 July to mark the anniversary of the shooting down in 2014 of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was hit by a Russian missile over pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of all 298 people on board.

The protests in Poland were coordinated with similar demonstrations in 53 other cities around the world, including Paris, London, Brussels, Oslo, Milan, Tallinn, Limassol and Tel Aviv.

Protests against Russia and in support of Ukraine have regularly taken place in Poland since the start of the war. In Kraków, Ukrainians and Belarusians have been protesting on the city’s market square every day since Russia’s invasion, reports Radio Kraków.

Last month, Russians living in Poland held a protest outside their country’s embassy against the war, and in May the Russian ambassador was doused with red paint by protesters when he visited a Soviet war cemetery in Warsaw.

In April, the words “Glory to Ukraine” were painted outside the Russian embassy in Warsaw as part of a city-backed exhibition. Municipal authorities in Kraków and Gdańsk have recently named public spaces near their Russian consulates in honour of Ukraine.

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.