The Council of Ministers has cancelled all the events of the Year of Russia projected for 2015 in Poland, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, the spokeswoman for the Polish government, says. Such strict decision was caused by the shotdown of the Malaysian airliner on July, 17.
‘This was the Government’s decision, but both Foreign Minister [Radosław Sikorski] and Culture Minister [Małgorzata Omilanowska] made it clear that holding and good organisation of the Year of Russia in Poland was inpossible taking into account the current political situation, the events in Ukraine, the shotdown of the plane,’ Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska said.
‘Plans of holding Poland’s Year in Russia and Russia’s Year in Poland will be put into cold storage,’ Minister Sikorski said.
According to Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, ‘culture should connect viewers and performers, consolidate unity, create good atmosphere.’ But the current situation doesn’t seem to be favourable, she stressed. A lot of Polish cultural workers repeatedly asked to cancel all the events, she added.
The initiative of holding Poland’s Year in Russia and Russia’s Year in Poland affords Russians and Poles the chance to present their biggest economic, cutural and scientific achievements. It came into being when Foreign Ministers Radosław Sikorski and Sergei Lavrov signed the declaration ‘The program 2020 in Polish-Russian relations’.
