“The policy of this Government is, in fact, a hypocritical and cynical policy (…) I have no doubt about that,” said the communist leader when asked about the summoning of the Russian ambassador by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs to request explanations regarding “the invasion of airspace and the border” of Poland.
At the end of a visit to the historic center of Porto, accompanied by the candidate for that municipality, Diana Ferreira, the Secretary-General of the PCP stated that when asked about the episode with the Portuguese humanitarian aid ship heading to Gaza, the Prime Minister said that more information was needed, whereas with the Polish situation, the stance was “maximum pressure.”
“There are cases about which it is always necessary to request new information and others in which it is always total pressure, maximum pressure. Now, this is hypocrisy and cynicism,” he opined.
In his opinion, the Portuguese Government, more than contributing to alarmism and increasing pressure, should ease the pressure and gather all possible clarifications about what happened.
He added: “But that wasn’t the case because the Foreign Affairs Minister, before requesting that meeting with the Russian ambassador, something that was normal to happen, made statements about the issue, notably more sanctions and more militarism.”
Paulo Raimundo considered that the Government has “double standards” regarding Ukraine and Palestine, despite being different cases.
“I am not saying that the situation of Palestine and Ukraine are the same, but there are double standards. But it is not only from the Foreign Minister, it is from the Prime Minister, the Portuguese State, and the European Union,” he emphasized.
On this subject, he questioned: “What is Portugal waiting for and from whom to make the sovereign decision to recognize the state of Palestine? What is missing? Nothing, except a hypocritical and cynical option.”
The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs today described the summoning of the Russian ambassador as “a formal protest.”
Polish authorities, who reported a “large-scale provocation” by Russia, indicated that 19 drones entered Polish airspace, with some being shot down.
The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, invoked NATO’s Article 4, which provides for consultations among member states.
Moscow claimed it did not intend to violate Russian airspace.
The incident received widespread condemnation from NATO and European Union countries.
