Poland investigating pro-Putin banner at farmers’ protest

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland said it is investigating the display of a pro-Putin banner during a protest by farmers on Tuesday close to the Czech border, and the foreign office said it was concerned by the appearance of anti-Ukrainian slogans.

The banner reading “Putin – sort out Ukraine, Brussels and our government” along with a Soviet flag appeared on a tractor taking part in a protest on a motorway near the village of Gorzyczki.

Poland’s Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said on Tuesday that police immediately seized the banner and prosecutors were investigating.

Poland’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it “notes with the greatest concern the appearance of anti-Ukrainian slogans and slogans praising Vladimir Putin and the war he is waging during the recent agricultural blockades.”

“We believe that this is an attempt to take over the agricultural protest movement by extreme and irresponsible groups, perhaps under the influence of Russian agents.”

Adrian Wawrzyniak, a spokesperson for the Solidarity farmers’ union, said the banner was unacceptable and rejected the suggestion Russian agents could be trying to influence the protest movement.

He said he believed a person unrelated to the union had displayed the banner.

Farmers staged a major day of protest on Tuesday, blocking almost all traffic on the border with Ukraine, angering Kyiv.

Farmers across Europe have been demonstrating against constraints placed on them by European Union measures to tackle climate change, as well as rising costs and what they say is unfair competition from abroad, particularly Ukraine.

Poland’s Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski told reporters the government had invited farmers groups for talks on Monday, while farmers said they wanted the government to come to them.

Polish farmers blocked eight major roads on Wednesday as part of their month-long campaign. Police said protests continued at border crossings to Ukraine in Medyka and Korczowa, but passenger traffic was smooth and some trucks were also being let through.

In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had discussed the situation with ministers and next steps would come quickly.

(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)