UN General Assembly
2025

I share this view, but I believe that the root causes of Russian aggression are primarily ideological. Russia refers to an imperial vision that treats entire nations as a colonial property. It denies them subjectivity on a regular basis, claiming that they are artificial constructs, and it justifies the invasion as a historical correction. Ladies and gentlemen, in Poland, in Central Europe, in Eastern Europe, we know all of that. For at least, we have known it for at least 86 years, it is the same set of notions which appears also in the 21st century during our discussions, plenary sessions, and assemblies. To us, in Central Europe and in Eastern Europe, this set of notions is nothing new. Whether we are talking about Poland, the Republic of Poland, in the first half of the 20th century, or whether we are talking about Ukraine today. As a historian, I view the present also through the lens of the past, that is natural.