A Russian lawmaker has issued a fiery warning that Warsaw is next in line for “de-nazification” after Poland’s Prime Minister penned an op-ed calling Russia’s imperialist “Russkiy Mir” ideology a “cancer” consuming Russian society and a “deadly threat” to other countries.
In his remarks, Morozov resorted to the Kremlin’s rhetoric in its military operation in Ukraine of so-called “de-Nazification,” a label Moscow has used to vilify its geopolitical adversaries and justify the war.
“With its statements about Russia as a ‘cancer’ and about the ‘indemnity’ that we must pay to Ukraine, Poland encourages us to put it in first place in the queue for de-Nazification after Ukraine,” Morozov wrote, according to a translation of his statement.
Morozov’s remarks were prompted by statements made by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Polish President Andrzej Duda, who have both been highly critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Duda has said Russia should be forced to pay compensation to Ukraine for war damages while Morawiecki said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “more dangerous” than both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin because he has nuclear weapons and a massive propaganda machine at his disposal.
Morawiecki alleged that in the name of this ideology, Putin and his military entourage have ordered Russian forces into war, “convinced them of their superiority, and encouraged them to commit inhuman war crimes—the murder, rape, and torture of innocent civilians.”
“Putin’s ‘Russkiy Mir’ ideology is the equivalent of 20th-century communism and Nazism,” Morawiecki wrote, calling it a “cancer which is consuming not only the majority of Russian society, but also poses a deadly threat to the whole of Europe.”
It’s not enough to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s attack, Morawiecki argued, “we must root out this monstrous new ideology entirely.”
“Just as Germany was once subject to denazification, today the only chance for Russia and the civilised world is ‘deputinisation.’ If we do not engage in this task immediately, we will not only lose Ukraine, we will lose our soul and our freedom and sovereignty,” the Polish leader wrote.
Morawiecki argued that, unless it is opposed, Russia will not stop at Kyiv but will continue on a “long march towards the West.”
The Kremlin has denied it has any intentions of invading other countries. Putin has claimed that what he describes as a “special military operation” in Ukraine comes in response to attempts by Western powers to establish a bulwark in Ukraine that threatens Moscow’s security.
In particular, Putin has long said that NATO is trying to expand its borders to pressure Russia militarily, claims the defensive alliance has rejected as unfounded.
Another of the Kremlin’s key justifications for its operation in Ukraine has been to allege that the Russian-speaking population in the separatist-controlled Donbass and Luhansk region were being subjected to repression and what Putin has described as “genocide.”
