Ambassador Zvarych: Poland not suspend agricultural talks with Ukraine
Warsaw has not suspended talks with Kyiv on agricultural issues. The negotiations continue at all levels.
The relevant statement was made by Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland Vasyl Zvarych in a commentary to Ukrinform, commenting on the recent reports in the Polish mass media that agricultural talks with Ukraine were allegedly interrupted due to corruption charges against former Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Mykola Solskyi.
“It is not about suspending the negotiations, as the talks continue at all levels, including at the embassy level. For objective reasons known to us, there was simply a need to postpone a meeting between the agriculture ministers of Ukraine and Poland for later, when the Ukrainian side decides on the official of the Agrarian Policy Ministry who will take part in such meeting. But, I’d like to assure you that interest in holding further meetings at the level of relevant ministries with the involvement of agricultural associations of the two countries is remaining high, and such dialogue is effective,” Zvarych emphasized.
On Monday, in an interview with Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Polish Agriculture Deputy Minister Michał Kołodziejczak stated that Warsaw had interrupted talks with Kyiv on agricultural issues due to the recent dismissal of Mykola Solskyi as Ukraine’s Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry and criminal charges against him.
“Talks with Kyiv have been interrupted, because we will not negotiate with people who have corruption charges,” the Polish publication cited Kołodziejczak.
The next round of Ukrainian-Polish agricultural talks used to be scheduled for May 14, 2024 but was cancelled.
A reminder that, on April 29, 2024, the blockade was lifted across all checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border, where Polish farmers had been holding protests since early February 2024.
On May 9, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dismissed Mykola Solskyi as Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
On April 23, 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) accused Mykola Solskyi as Ukraine’s former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee and current minister of expropriating the state-owned land plots worth UAH 291 million and attempting to expropriate the land plots worth another UAH 190 million.
Commenting on the charges, Solskyi claimed that the events in question dated back to the period, when he acted not as a government official but a lawyer.