Russians in Poland are no longer allowed to renew their residence permits

“Family ties are coming apart at the seams”

Relations between Poland and Ukraine have recently become strained. Nothing good awaits Ukrainian refugees in the country now. From January they will no longer receive any support. However, the attitude towards Russian residents in Poland is no better. And not only at the official level, but even at the family level. This is what Russian women who have lived in Poland for many years told MK.

“Today I received a refusal on my residence card (a card allowing residence in the country). The reason is a threat to Poland’s national security. I’ve been living here for almost six years with varying degrees of success, I work well, I’ve never had any fines or violations, I live a quiet girl’s life and somehow I didn’t notice that my 155 cm height began to threaten the security of the country,” Nastya writes in a group dedicated to Russians in Poland.

Nastya’s case is not the only one. With the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the Baltic countries, Poland and some other EU countries, Russians began to face the problem of legalization. Neither long-term work experience nor a stamp in the passport indicating marriage with a citizen of one of these countries is included in the “merit”.

The girl is at a loss and has absolutely no idea what to do. She is advised to challenge the decision in other instances, but this may not be of much use. There are other malicious pieces of advice from the “suitcase-station-Russia” category – Russophobia among the Russian residents themselves also takes place.

But here’s another story. Natalya is married to a Pole. Now she lives in Warsaw, but is originally from Moscow. The girl speaks Russian, English and Polish. “I had such a case: I came to the store and in Polish I asked the saleswoman to weigh the vegetables for me. She looks at me and pretends that she doesn’t understand me. It’s like I’m talking gibberish. Then I switched to English, and she reluctantly served me.”

Natalya admitted to MK that her relationship with her husband also went wrong: “I’m Russian. Of course, I will worry about my country. All my family and friends are there. My husband and I decided not to discuss this topic.”

It cannot be said that all Poles are hostile. At the borders, border guards calmly release Russians with residence cards into Kaliningrad and also politely let them back. On social networks, residents share personal stories of crossing the border. Of course, no one will dare to enter the country in their own car, and even with Russian license plates, but they let you in by bus quite easily. The border guards are mostly polite; no one turns things over.

But conflicts between Russians and Ukrainians in Poland arise often… And mainly when Russians want to receive some services. Here are just a few stories that Russians share on social networks: a Ukrainian woman refused to get a manicure, a sign was hung on the door of the dentist that they do not serve holders of red passports, a prohibitory sign was attached to the glass of a cafe with the note “Russians are not welcome here.”