Poland PM calls for Putin's ouster from power; 'World isn't safe as long he leads Russia'

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Tuesday said that he wants a regime change in Moscow as he asserted that President Vladimir Putin must be ousted from power.

The Polish leader warned the European Union heads of the member states that if Russia’s President Putin remains in power, threats and blackmail will spill beyond the borders of Ukraine, in an interview with Sky news. Putin has almost “torn the EU’s unity apart” over oil embargo that EU’s 27 leaders debated on, said Polish Prime Minister.

The EU only managed to unanimously agree on partial oil embargo with an exemption on pipelines as it approved the sixth round of sanctions. Hungary showed staunch resistance against Russian oil embargo, as Putin’s ally Prime Minister Viktor Orban refused to compromise citing the threat of recession and lack of alternative to Russian gas and oil. Morawiecki called for the removal of Russia’s leader, asserting that he will “continue to blackmail” Europe if he remains in power. 

The Polish head of state also underscored the significance of Ukraine winning the war and holding its sovereignty. "If Europe and the free world lose this battle, loses this war, we are not going to be safe any longer," Morawiecki warned. "We will always be under threat and blackmail from Putin.We would like him to be totally removed, of course," he went on to reiterate.

Russia represents 'brutal power': Polish PM

The Polish PM derided Russia’s leadership, stating that it represents “a brutal power”. Morawiecki said that Russia thinks it is a superpower, although it’s not. "And if at the end of the day, Ukraine survives as a sovereign state, which is our sole objective and this is why we are supporting Ukraine through all sorts of different means, then this is our victory,” said the Polish Prime Minister.

Warsaw has been the most radical proponents of “crushing sanctions” against regime of the Russian Federation. "The quicker, the better. The more, the harsher, the better,” Morawiecki said. And this is our stance from the very beginning." Polish leader had earlier labelled Russia's Putin as "war criminal" who is committing "genocide" in Ukraine.

"This Russia is totalitarian, it's nationalistic, it's imperial, and this Russia wants to re-establish the Russian empire and a post-Soviet Union type of state," Morawiecki had told Euronews in a separate interview. "We cannot see a situation where there's a retreat to business as usual. Women and children are dying. Russia [commits] genocide in Ukraine and war crimes. Not with this [Putin's] regime," Morawiecki asserted. He had also called to "root out" Russia's "monstrous ideology" prompting strong reaction from Kremlin.

"This is the quintessence of that 'hatred' towards Russians [Russophobia] that has regrettably, like a metastasis, infected the entire Polish leadership and, in many ways, Polish society," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow during a presser.