MINSK, 23 June (BelTA) – Hostility towards the eastern neighbors has been cultivated among ordinary Poles for several decades, Mateusz Jarosiewicz, a Polish publicist, journalist, public figure, expert in international relations and internal affairs of Poland, the author of "Letter to President Lukashenko from the concentration camp Polin [Poland]", said in an interview with Tomasz Szmydt in the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
"I received some initial information about Belarus in school during an excursion to Vilnius. It was a trip ‘In the footsteps of Mickiewicz’. Even then when we had the opportunity for a short stay in Belarus, the atmosphere was pretty tense. Back then, Belarus, unfortunately, was associated with some otherness. It is true that Belarus is not portrayed in the best way in Poland. Excursions are not organized to the country; they avoid talking about Belarus and Russia," Mateusz Jarosiewicz said.
According to the journalist, Poland either does not talk about the eastern neighbors or when they do, it is always in a negative way. "As for the Poles themselves, I have a large audience. I have tens of thousands of viewers, and I was very surprised at the high level of personal culture of people who left their opinions in the comments section about the Russian president, the high level of understanding. But such voices are censored," he stressed.
Mateusz Jarosiewicz added that a large number of Poles who have acquaintances or friends in Russia, who have been to Russia, who studied the Russian language in school, have no negative attitude towards Russians whatsoever.
"On the contrary, people who have never been to Russia, people who draw knowledge from TV, they are just afraid. They have fear instilled by incessant propaganda. This began much earlier than 2022. In my opinion, hostility towards the eastern neighbors has been cultivated among ordinary Poles for several decades," the journalist said.
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