Vladimir Putin is weaponizing “Ukraine’s harvest” as an “instrument of blackmail” for the rest of the world, Poland’s prime minister said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Mateusz Morawiecki told the BBC it was like “Stalin 1933”.
In a wide-ranging interview, he also warned that with a trade war between the UK and the EU, “only Putin” would be “happy” about the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.
Ukraine’s inability to export its grain has caused global food prices to spike.
It has also raised the prospect of famine in the countries that depend on its exports.
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Mr. Morawiecki said this was “part of [Mr Putin’s] strategy” to “create ripple effects in North Africa and huge waves of migration”.
He said he expects an agreed EU oil embargo on Russia within days or weeks, with some exceptions for the Czechs, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. And he called for the Nord Stream One gas pipeline from Russia to Germany to be shut down this year.
Mr Morawiecki said that “Russia is under real pressure from the existing sanctions” but this would have an impact in the medium and long term.
He pointed out that the Russian President is counting on rising energy and food prices to deplete Western support for Ukraine, and that politicians need to explain and mitigate the impact on prices.
“We have to explain to the public what the consequences of the war are,” he said. “Putin’s main tools are intimidation, fear, illusions and propaganda.”
Regarding the possibility of a trade war between the UK and the EU, Mr Morawiecki said it would “lose, lose”.
“Only Putin and our enemies will be happy to see another disagreement between such close partners as the UK and the European Union,” he said.
He said there was room for compromise between Brussels and London and that he was trying to “calm down the situation between France and the UK as much as possible”.
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Asked what would happen if the UK unilaterally breaks the deal, as is currently planned, the Polish Prime Minister replied: “Especially in the current circumstances where we have such a brutal invasion, this should be a wake-up call for those who want to disagree about something.
“Together we are strong. Divided we are very weak.”
But the Polish prime minister also had criticism of his EU colleagues.
When asked if he was concerned about noise from Paris and Berlin about a compromise with Russia, he pointedly replied: “Some western European leaders wanted cheap, natural resources and peace. And what they got was very expensive raw materials and natural resources and war.
“So they should consider that Putin is working firstly to divide us and secondly to make us impatient and tired of everything.”
Mr. Morawiecki added that, as with other wars, including World War II, “unfortunately, we have to be prepared for a long war and we have to inform public opinion about what is going on in Ukraine.”
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