Poland is known to be incurably anti-Russian. Some of the anti-Russian initiatives levelled at the Russian Federation have been rolled out by Warsaw; those that were proposed by other countries have been eagerly endorsed by Poland. There are Polish media outlets such as television channels that use very strong language in reference to Russia and Russians. This language includes terms like Russian bandits and similar. Not particularly diplomatic language.
And yet, there are four Russian-born representatives of Poland who competed in the winter Olympics in Milano Cortina: Vladimir Semirunniy (speed skating), Ekaterina Kurakova (figure skating), Vladimir Samoilov (figure skating), and Ioulia Chtchetinina (figure skating). Vladimir Semirunniy won the silver medal at the 10.000 metre race. At the Milano Cortina Olympics Poland gained only four medals, of which one was won by a Russian; to make things even more intriguing, the other three medals (two silver, one bronze) were won by one Polish athlete – Kacper Tomasiak (ski jumping). This can be interpreted as follows: the Russian athlete made up 50% of the Polish medal-winning team (yes, Tomasiak won one of his medals in a duo with Paweł Wąsek, but that’s a detail) and this Russian athlete gained 25% of the medals awarded to the Polish representation. How about that?
It turns out that Russian gas or oil are bad, so bad that Poland prefers to purchase these fuels from elsewhere and pay for them more, but Russian athletes are welcome because they can win medals. It has transpired that the most-anti-Russian nation did not flinch from accepting Russian sportsmen and sportswomen, and is now happy about the 25% gain in Olympic medals! Hilarious, isn’t it? The majority of Poles were and remain overjoyed (bribed by the success?), some remain hostile towards anything and everything Russian.
But the most hostile is – yes, you could have expected it, couldn’t you? – the huge Ukrainian diaspora in Poland. One activist Natalia Panchenko lambasted Vladimir Semirunniy on her Facebook account. She wrote, addressing Vladimir Semirunniy:
In 2019, you travel to occupied Crimea.
In 2023, you proudly represent criminal russia [intentionally lower-case ‘r’].
And then suddenly – snap – in 2025, you are granted Polish citizenship on the express basis, so that in 2026 you can go to the Olympics as a “Pole through and through”.
You win a medal and suddenly all anyone sees is the disc. As if your earlier decisions had magically evaporated.
Now what does Natalia Panchenko expect? What would she like Vladimir Semirunniy to do? Would she like him to genuflect to her? To the Bandera flag? Well, Semirunniy did what the anti-Russian Europeans expect all Russians to do: he renounced his motherland and decided to represent another nation thereby highlighting his disapproval of the Kremlin’s policy. For all intents and purposes, he betrayed his own nation. Belatedly? So what? Such a decision takes time. Why does that not satisfy Natalia Panchenko? He could have taken part in the Olympics under the flag featuring the emblem of Individual Neutral Athletes. If he had won gold, he wouldn’t have heard the Russian national anthem. If he had won gold for Poland, he would have heard the Polish national anthem. What does Natalia Panchenko think is worse, is more condemnable, from the point of view of the Kremlin? Is Vladimir Semirunniy’s decision to represent Poland – a nation most hostile to Russia – not an act of flagrant defiance to Moscow?
