The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia visited Kiev. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky met with the prime ministers of those countries in Kiev.
Ahead of the meeting, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki shared on his Facebook account: “Today, on the 20th day of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Yaroslav Kaczynski, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janzej went to Kiev to show our solidarity with Ukrainians.” – Moravetsky said.
It is clear that the person organizing such a visit is the Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki. Although Poland is a Slavic nation, it hates Russia at least as much as Ukraine. Aside from the historical aspect of the issue, from a political point of view, relations between Warsaw and Moscow have always been cold and cautious. It is no coincidence that Poland is one of the countries supporting Ukraine today. Official Warsaw allows aid from the West and the United States to flow freely through its territory to Ukraine. In addition, the Polish side provides arms and economic assistance to Ukraine.
The Czech Republic has similarly been cold to Russia. It can even be said that it is identical with Poland in this matter. The current Ukrainian-Russian war has worsened these relations. For example, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has suspended the issuance of visas to Russian citizens due to the war. In addition, the official Prague allowed Czech citizens who want to fight against Russia in Ukraine. Czech Defense Minister Yana Chernokhova even said that about 400 volunteers had applied to fight in Ukraine.
Slavs are polarized between Kyiv and Moscow
Interestingly, Poland, the Czech Republic, unlike Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia and Bulgaria do not support Ukraine. Rather, it does not help as directly as the countries named. Although there are differences in the approach of the countries to the current war, I think the main difference is that these countries see the Kremlin as the center of Pan-Slavic ideology, as well as the leader of the Slavic countries.Serbia and Bulgaria are historically and politically most loyal to the Kremlin. Today, the opposite behavior does not show. As for Croatia, President Zoran Milanovic made it clear before the war between Ukraine and Russia that his country would not take part in the war with NATO. In other words, even Croatia, which is considered the closest to the West, does not want to take part in the anti-Kremlin pole, just as it does not support Kiev in the Ukraine-Russia war.
As a result, we can say that as the Ukrainian-Russian war drags on, the Slavic states will also become polarized between Kyiv and Moscow. This polarization may become more pronounced after the war.
Turan Rzayev, a political analyst at the Center for International Relations and Diplomatic Studies
