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A diplomatic spat has erupted between Poland and Hungary that lays bare the deep tensions within Europe over how to deal with Russia when it is\u00a0waging war on Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Poland, like Germany, France and most other European nations, is a staunch ally of Ukraine while Hungary\u2019s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n is widely considered to have the\u00a0warmest relations with the Kremlin<\/a>\u00a0among all EU leaders.<\/p>\n The Polish government has been openly critical of Hungary for its stance. The spat erupted when Orb\u00e1n lashed out at Poland over the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Poles are pursuing the most sanctimonious and the most hypocritical policy in the whole of Europe. They are lecturing us morally, criticizing us for our economic relations with Russia, and at the same time they are doing business with the Russians and buying oil indirectly, and running the Polish economy with it,\u201d Orb\u00e1n said.<\/p>\n That triggered a denial and angry response from a Polish deputy foreign minister, W\u0142adys\u0142aw Teofil Bartoszewski, who said Sunday: \u201cWe do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Orb\u00e1n, who is on the margins of international society \u2014 both in the European Union and NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n Poland was once dependent on Russian energy sources, but has been working for years to wean itself off Russian oil and gas. After Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,\u00a0Poland decided to end its Russian oil imports.<\/a><\/p>\n Magda Jakubowska, vice president of Visegrad Insight, a policy journal focused on Central Europe, said Poland might still have some Russian oil in reserves from past deliveries, but that it no longer imports oil from Russia.\u00a0The Druzhba pipeline,<\/a>\u00a0which brought oil from Russia to Poland, \u201cis no longer working,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n About 50% of Poland\u2019s imports now come from Saudi Arabia and some from Norway, she said. She said it was possible some of the oil imports arriving in Poland could be traced indirectly to Russia, but that the amounts would be insignificant.<\/p>\n A year ago Orb\u00e1n could have made his claim, but not now, she said. \u201cMaybe he hasn\u2019t been updated,\u201d Jakubowska said.<\/p>\n Bartoszewski added that Orb\u00e1n should join a union with Putin and even suggested he should leave Western organizations. His comments were reported by the Polish state news agency PAP.<\/p>\n Hungary has found itself isolated in the EU due to its rogue approach to Russia, and\u00a0friendliness to China<\/a>\u00a0as well. Top EU officials have been\u00a0boycotting informal meetings<\/a>\u00a0hosted by Hungary, which now holds the EU\u2019s rotating presidency.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t want to be a member of a club, you can always leave,\u201d Bartoszewski said. \u201cI don\u2019t really understand why Hungary wants to remain a member of organizations that it doesn\u2019t like so much and which supposedly treat it so badly.\u201d<\/p>\n The digs didn\u2019t end there.<\/p>\n Hungary\u2019s Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 shot back at Bartoszewski on Facebook by saying: \u201cFor a long time we tolerated the provocations and hypocrisy of the current Polish government with the intention of preserving the Polish-Hungarian brotherhood, but we have had enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Poland and Hungary historically have strong ties.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n got along very well with the conservative populists who governed Poland from 2015-2023 due to their shared views on migration and the EU. They both opposed allowing migrants from the Middle East and Africa into Europe. And both governments accused the EU of seeking to take away powers from the nation states.<\/p>\n Those ties only began to sour when Russia invaded Ukraine, aggression that Poles also feel as an existential threat in the region. They have gotten worse since a pro-EU government took over in Warsaw under Prime Minister Donald Tusk in December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n