Poland's Tusk faults EU nations loudly declaring support for Ukraine while maintaining Russian trade

Sanctions against Russia should cease being fictitious, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an interview with the TVN 24 channel.

Half of Europe still trades with Russia and Belarus, and many companies, including Polish ones, successfully circumvent sanctions, he stressed.

"Because for some reason no one is interested in strictly ensuring their compliance," Tusk said.

He noted that frozen Russian assets may be enough to ensure Ukraine's success in the war.

"Because in those capitals where we hear loud pro-Ukrainian messages, when it comes to this, for example, when we say: let's take these Russian assets, let's hand them over to Ukraine, it turns out there are some problems there," the Polish prime minister said.

The politician emphasized that Poland "behaves extremely rationally and responsibly, boldly, but without gambling."

Polish farmers started a nationwide protest on February 9, blocking roads throughout the country, including those leading to the border with Ukraine.

They also began to obstruct traffic at checkpoints from Ukraine, spilling Ukrainian grain from trucks and wagons.

On February 29, Polish Prime Minister Tusk, after a meeting with his Latvian counterpart, did not rule out that Poland could ban the import of Russian agricultural products.

On March 6, large-scale protests by Polish farmers began in the center of Warsaw, with demonstrators burning tires in front of the office of Polish premier Tusk.