Polish police have launched an investigation into a pro-Putin poster spread during a farmers’ protest

This angered Kyiv and re-increased tensions between the neighbors.

Polish farmers are blocking Ukrainian trucks from entering their country to protest what they say is unfair competition from cheap imports from their eastern neighbor, damaging friendly relations between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Farmers in the southern Polish village of Gozicki unfurled a banner reading “Putin, fix Ukraine, Brussels and our government” and attached a Soviet Union flag to a tractor in fresh protests on Tuesday.

A photo of the poster was shared on social networks and caused an angry reaction from Ukrainian Internet users.

“The police confiscated the banner and the flag,” a local police spokeswoman told AFP.

“The person driving the vehicle has been identified. A criminal investigation is underway,” she added.

She added that authorities have launched an investigation into promoting a fascist or totalitarian regime and inciting hatred, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

In recent protests, Polish farmers blocked roads leading to the border with Ukraine and dumped Ukrainian grain from trucks and train cars.

The new protests are another blow to relations between Ukraine and its ally Poland, which just weeks ago managed to quell a similar two-month blockade by Polish truck drivers.

Tomasz Siemoniak, a member of the Polish Seimas responsible for special services, condemned the scandalous poster as a provocation on Wednesday.

“These are shameful words that do not correspond at all to the position of the state or the feelings of our citizens,” T. Siemoniak told Polish radio “Zet”.

Ukraine’s agricultural sector suffered huge losses due to the Russian invasion after many Black Sea export routes were blocked and after hostilities rendered agricultural areas unusable.