Warsaw apologises to Ukraine for grain spilled from trucks on the border
The Minister of Agriculture explained this by the "difficult situation" of Polish farmers
Poland's agriculture minister has apologised for an incident on the Ukrainian border in which protesting Polish farmers threw grain from Ukrainian trucks onto the road, heightening tensions between the allies.
Last week, farmers began another round of protests on the Polish-Ukrainian border. They blocked three checkpoints, expressing their dissatisfaction with what they see as unfair competition from Ukrainian grain imports to the EU.
On Sunday, they cut up Ukrainian trucks crossing the border with Poland and spilled tonnes of grain on the road.
In a statement, Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sikerski condemned the incident but stressed the plight of farmers.
"On behalf of Polish farmers, I apologise for this act of desperation and ask you to understand their extremely difficult situation," Sikerski said.
The incident drew sharp criticism from Kyiv, which called on Poland to punish those responsible.
On Monday, Poland launched an investigation into the farmers' allegations of violating customs security rules and destroying property, offences that carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
"This is not quite the right form of protest, but it is often used by farmers in different countries," said Czeslaw Sikerski.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian border guards said that the latest wave of protests disrupted freight traffic at five border crossings.
As of today, about 1,250 trucks are queuing up at all of them, a Ukrainian Border Guard Service spokesman told Interfax-Ukraine.
Background. Read more about this in Mind's article "European farmers' protests: how much they were 'provoked' by Ukraine and what farmers really want".
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