Society

Pro-Putin nuns’ market stall shut down in northwestern Poland

Photo: X/@Bielsat_pl
Protesters holding "By buying from here, you are supporting torture in Belarusian prisons (L) / Russian aggression against Ukraine (R)" signs. Photo: X/@Bielsat_pl
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A market stall run by nuns at a Christmas market in northwestern Poland was shut down after they were exposed for engaging in pro-Russian activities.

The stall was staffed by nuns from the Saint Elizabeth Monastery in Minsk, which financed equipment for the Russian army and supported the political activities of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, Polish website Radio Szczecin reported.

Sisters from the convent have also supported Belarus’s pro-Putin dictator Alexander Lukashenko, Polish website Radio Szczecin reported.

Belarusian pro-democracy activists demonstrated in front of the stall at the Szczecin Christmas market in northeastern Poland, which opened on Friday.

Poland-based Belarusian television channel Belsat published a photo of activists standing in front of a stand with banners opposing Russian aggression and the Lukashenko regime.

The Belarusian nuns travel to EU countries where they sell beekeeping products and organize concerts, Belsat reported. Money raised from the sales is used to buy medicine for Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.
Olga Chomicz from Szczecin 646, a Belarusian pro-democracy group based in Poland, told Radio Szczecin: “There are occasional scandals with them, where they try to sell their souvenirs. We have always known about this order, but we were very surprised when we discovered that they trade here in Szczecin.”

The nuns’ business operation doesn’t break any Polish laws, so they were able to open their stall at the Christmas market legally.

Żegluga Szczecińska Turystyka Wydarzenia, the organizer of the event in Szczecin, said it had ended the contract with the nuns as soon as it was alerted to their pro-Russian activities.

“We will no longer cooperate with this entity; the decision has been made. We had no knowledge of this. This is not our bad intention, just ignorance,” Celina Wołosz, spokeswoman for Żegluga Szczecińska Turystyka Wydarzenia, told Polish news website Interia.
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