‘We have lost control’ of the system, laments Polish foreign minister – POLITICO

Banaś also questioned the previous Warsaw government “Poland. Business Harbour”, which encouraged specialists and companies to move to Poland, but was canceled by the new pro-Western government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk earlier this year. Banaś claimed that the visas issued under the program “had no legal basis”.

“This was the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to enter the territory of Poland and the EU, which was used by more than 1,800 citizens of the Russian Federation between March 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023,” the NIK report states. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Polish leader Tusk called the report’s findings “devastating”.

“After the attack in Ukraine, almost 2,000 Russians received Polish visas, often in violation of the law and in defiance of sanctions,” the prime minister said.

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also lamented the results: “We confirm that scandalous and undue pressure was exerted on the Polish consuls,” he said.

“This is nothing new for the current management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it coincides with the results of our internal audits. We confirm that, unfortunately, especially between 2018 and 2023, there was a loss of control over the visa system,” the minister declared.