Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (L) greets Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Westerplatte, September 1, 2009, during ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (L) greets Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Westerplatte, September 1, 2009, during ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Reuters

Making a U turn, Poland's speaker Radoslaw Sikorski has disowned his controversial comment that Russian President Putin persuaded Poland to jointly invade Ukraine and divides its provinces among them.

Sikorski told media last Wednesday that he misremembered the details of the meeting between Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Putin. He retracted saying it was an over-interpretation and a memory lapse, because a facts-check revealed that there was no such meeting between Tusk and Putin. Sikorski had been the Polish foreign minister till recently.

The Polish Speaker's interview with U.S. website Politico last October 19, was a bombshell with quotes about Putin's proposal on the division of Ukraine among Russia and Poland. It was claimed that this offer was made when Polish prime minister, Donad Dusk met Putin in Moscow, in 2008, reported Reuters.

Controversial

Though he backtracked, the interview had sketch details by Sikorski about Putin's alleged proposal. The Business Insider reported that Putin packaged the offer temptingly to Poland for invading Ukraine for partitioning it. Sikorski, who was Poland's foreign minister from 2007 to 2014 September, said the Polish Foreign Ministry became alarmed over Putin's expansionist ambitions.

Poland noted that Russia was even thinking about the Ukrainian provinces it wanted to grab long before the protests broke out in Kiev in November last year.

During the meeting, Kremlin reportedly offered Warsaw its share of western Ukraine, but Putin's condition was that Poland must commit troops. Sikorski said in the interview "this was told by Putin to my prime minister, Donald Tusk, when he visited Moscow".

Ukraine Artificial State

Sikorski recalled that Putin called Ukraine an artificial country and said Lwow was a Polish city and "why don't we just sort it out together". Tusk did not answer upfront as he knew that he was being recorded.

Despite Poland's lack of enthusiasm, Russia continued to push Poland about the offer to partition Ukraine. Sikorski disclosed that Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a radical right-wing politician came to Warsaw, probably as Putin's emissary and offered Poland five provinces of western Ukraine. However, Poland made "very, very clear to them that we have nothing to do with it".

Russia's reported offer to Poland for breaking Ukraine was similar to Poland's own partition during World War II. That time, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union forced a series of partitions and split Poland, Romania, Finland and the Baltic States and shared between them under the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.