The date of the meeting, 23 February, was symbolic as it fell on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Sikorski emphasised the need to further support Ukraine and Poland’s commitment in this respect.

“I would like to point out that it was during Poland’s Presidency of the EU Council that we increased the number of vessels subject to sanctions. The sanctions have one purpose—to make it impossible for Putin to finance his war machine,” said Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.

The chief of Polish diplomacy called for an urgent adoption of the 20th package of restrictive measures against Russia, which takes into account Poland’s proposals concerning the energy sector, among other limitations. They include further restrictions on “clunker fleet” vessels and sanctions against “oil minors”, that is minor oil companies, and financial institutions from third countries. These entities use the SPFS system, a Russian equivalent of the SWIFT financial transfer system.

“Poland is among the countries that have done the most [for Ukraine]. It is Poland that has been paying for 30,000 terminals that are being used in Ukraine, including by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But that is only one of many things that we do. Our anti-aircraft missiles, our infantry fighting vehicles, our tanks, our fighter jets, all the logistical help, our payments into the PURL fund, with which Europe buys American weapons that are being delivered [to Ukraine], our contribution to the Czech ammunition initiative—as you can tell, the list is quite long,” said Minister Radosław Sikorski.

The MFA head also urged Hungary to stop blocking a loan for Ukraine. To this end, the foreign minister declared his readiness to start a bilateral dialogue.

What is more, Minister Sikorski backed the Estonian proposal to introduce an EU entry ban for Russian citizens who participated in the aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, he pointed out that the most effective way to put the ban in place is to limit the number of visas issued to Russian citizens to a humanitarian minimum, like Poland did.  

When discussing the situation in the Middle East, the ministers concurred that the EU should be ready to sustain sanctions pressure on Iran. They also noted that Israel’s illegal activity in the West Bank could plant the seeds for another Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Additionally, the EU foreign ministers spoke to the Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov. He presented an action plan designed to enable the taking back of control over the entire Gaza Strip by Palestinian-led National Committee for the Administration of Gaza in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2803. The discussion highlighted the urgent need to scale up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza as well as disarm Hamas and other armed groups.

Deputy Prime Minister Sikorski also took part in an informal exchange on foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). FIMI poses a growing threat to democratic processes in various countries, especially in a pre-election period.

The MFA head underlined Poland’s commitment to combating FIMI both in the country and elsewhere, including through Polish information channels in the Russian and Belarusian languages.

***
The Council of the European Union is where national ministers from each EU country meet in ten different configurations to negotiate and adopt EU laws. Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) is responsible for the EU’s foreign policy, and manages its diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. It decides on security and defence matters, concludes trade agreements, and establishes international partnerships.