European hospitality has expiration date - how Belarusians live in Poland

The "incredible" protesters now look at Belarus in a completely different way. The native country now seems not so bad. On the contrary - they want to come back and do it, having seen the light finally.   It turned out that European hospitality has an expiration date, while funds have a limit. 

Anastasia Benedisyuk about the adventures of Belarusians in Poland. 

Meet Sergey Kovalenko. His way to Warsaw was quite fascinating.  He is a builder from Vitebsk, where, on New Year  he decorated the city’s Christmas tree with white-red-white symbols and was jailed for it.  He understood that his homeland does not accept such methods of "struggle" and left for Poland.  Kovalenko's stay in Warsaw turned out to be no less criminal. In 2020, he poured  the flammable liquid on Russian flag  and set it on fire. Why not? Well, this is a free country, and permissiveness is allowed for Belarusians. But we understand that such a situation lasted as long as it was  profitable for Poland. The other day they came for Kovalenko. 

Sergey Kovalenko: 

“Something happened last year, namely, he burned the flag of the Russian flag, the fascist one. The flag of the country that is at war. And only a year after, the police came and demanded that Sergey paid the money under this administrative case.  

According to Kovalenko, the Polish police decided to disrupt the rally he was holding: 

"I wrote them a message saying that I was going to uncover all the agents who entrenched themselves in Poland and generally in the West, Tikhanovskaya and Latushko, and I was going to uncover those who were giving grants to Tikhanovskaya."

He's sure this will continue! 

And he announces another political action for this Sunday at 12:30 . The one who so sacredly believed that only Lukashenko could be bad, now advocates something else: 

“Sanctions were demanded for Belarus against the people, sort of  against Lukashenko. And theses sanctions are against the Belarusian and Russian people. They were demanded against the regime, but they are not the regime, they  banned Belavia, factories, These were Latushko’s ideas. Latushko is such a ... when normal people see him, they want just spit in his face.

Now Poland seems to be spitting  on all Belarusians! 

Here is an example: the shooting is carried out from a car with Belarusian license plates. The driver in a  Polish, if you look at the entire record, overtakes it and  then slows down. He beeps for no reason .. and then comes out and swears ... 

 "Either change your registration, or go to your Lukashenko!" - here is a message to all Belarusians. 

Vadim Deina, blogger (Poland):

“Sometimes  Belarusians are  denied accommodation, to the point that when he tries to rent accommodation, they ask him where he comes from?  Nuances, questions - and it turns out that the guys are left without accommodation. 

The attention focus has shifted. Now it is profitable for Poland to give shelter and food to the Ukrainians. Maybe that's why they still haven't found a Ukrainian who stabbed a local resident with a knife in the back? The Pole is dead. 

“Music played, and then a fight started.  Someone stabbed him with a knife, blood ..."

The Poles do not support the position of the official elite and demand to tell all the details of the tragedy on Novy Svet Street. The police are still in denial. But there must be justice. The situation with the Belarusian and the Russian flag proves this. 

We are waiting for Poland to start talking loudly about bacchanalia on the streets and that it was provoked by wild Ukrainians. I think that such statements will make refugees go back very fast.

Understanding this, a Ukrainian woman, who poured paint over the Russian ambassador on Victory Day, has already left Poland. 

“At the insistence of those responsible for my safety, I cannot comment on this topic. I never thought I'd have to run twice."

But let's get back to the Belarusians and their moment of clarity. Here is an IT specialist who has already returned to  Belarus, which, when compared, turned out not that bad.  He talks about the constant contempt for non-Poles. They are paid several times less ... But there's worse to come - another Belarusian woman echoes him: 

Irina Sheiko: 

"When we were leaving, we wanted to come back. And then they contacted the workers, those workers who remained at the plant where we worked the last time. They talked to the employers about our return. And the leadership said that currently they are not going to work with Belarusians. There is no one waiting for us there now." 

In general, not only Belarusians are having a hard time in Poland right now. Social networks are full of Polish tension. They complain on all platforms. Here is a certain Mrs. Violetta, horrified by the bill for gas. 2300 zlotys instead of 400… well, a maximum of 700 that was before. 

Violetta, resident of Opalenica (Poland): 

“In my case, this increase is up to 500 percent. My family simply cannot afford it, especially since we have another PLN 2,000 loan for an apartment. So my husband and I decided that we would not pay."

For understanding, we are talking about the town of Opalenica with a population of 9,000 people. People put up protest posters. 

Every fourth Pole does not have enough money for basic expenses. The Poles limit daily spending, save on fuel and refuse entertainment. 

Poles' wallets have lost a lot of weight due to anti-Russian sanctions, admits Prime Minister Morawiecki. 

"Impossible" is a bit of an overstatement, but I completely agree with you. It has become very expensive to live in Poland. Prices have risen for everyday products. Highly. The same bread, sour cream, sugar."

"I used to pay 30-40 zlotys for shopping after work, now these figures have grown to 70. I went into the store right today, there's a check, I'm not cheating." 

Inflation in Poland has reached the levels not recorded since the 1990s. According to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland, in April it amounted to 12.4%.  The prices for goods and services rose by 2%. 

 Aleksander Jacek, public figure of the "Poland - East" society: 

"This is even regardless of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. But these two events have largely accelerated the crisis situation that is now hanging over Poland. Poland, the Poles have lived, frankly speaking, on credit for the last 20 years. The national debt has increased 4 times,  twice over the past 10 years. Now it exceeds one billion zlotys." 

A Polish newspaper writes: "The government's most important task is to fight inflation within the country." This is the opinion of half of the population! At the same time, money is allocated,  but for the defense industry ... and stew! Both leaves the country. This time, a Polish humanitarian aid appeared in the Kharkov supermarket.