Two leading politicians from the right-wing government camp in Poland have sharply criticized Germany.

President Andrzej Duda accused the western neighbor of continuing to be naïve in dealing with Russia in the “Bild” newspaper on Thursday.

At the same time, he recalled the previously failed Panzer ring exchange in favor of Ukraine.

Poland had sent the attacked neighboring country 240 Soviet-made tanks and 100 armored vehicles, "a total of weapons worth 2 billion dollars".

As agreed, Poland would have to “get some Leopard tanks from Germany” for the tanks supplied;

it doesn't have to be the most modern version.

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.

  • Follow I follow

In recent weeks, the impression has arisen that the exchange of rings failed because Warsaw is demanding the most modern version of the Leopard, which even the Bundeswehr has not yet received.

Duda showed a possible way out with the older model;

So far, however, Poland has “received nothing at all” for its advance payment to Ukraine.

Duda, who years ago described himself as the guardian of good German-Polish relations, criticized the fact that Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron repeatedly telephoned the Russian President.

That only enhances Vladimir Putin.

“Did anyone talk to Adolf Hitler like that during World War II?

Did someone say Adolf Hitler had to save face?”

At the same time, the head of the ruling PiS party, Jarosław Kaczyński, spoke in the small town of Sochaczew about his German neighbors with a sharpness that was unusual for him.

"Germany is playing a moral superpower," said Kaczyński on Wednesday evening, adding that the neighbor had not accepted any liability for the Nazi crimes committed against Poland.

In Germany, he claimed, there was "a kind of amnesty" for Nazi criminals after the war.

"The moment is probably getting closer when you have to bang your fist on the table," he said, apparently meaning reparations demands.

He assessed the fact that Germany is now also arming after Poland as positive, even though he does not know “whether the Germans are arming against Russia or against us”.

Kaczyński has also been Deputy Prime Minister since 2020.