Poland stops dialogue after Ukraine glorifies Nazi collaborators

Poland's president ruled out any further “historic dialogue” with Ukraine following its glorification of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as fighters for independence.

Polish President Bronisław Komorowski has condemned the Ukrainian Rada's recent recognition of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as fighters for independence.

“There could be no reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine without a dialogue,” the president said in his interview with TVN24 news channel.

“We have a lot of work ahead in [setting] our relations with Ukraine,” he added.

President Komorowski noted that the misfortune of the recently adopted law is that it prevents any further historic dialogue between the two countries.

The Polish leader, however, added that communication between the two countries is not halted and both sides should search for a positive solution to the existing tension in relations.

On April 9 Ukraine's parliament passed a “Law on the Status and Memory of the Participants in the Struggle for Independence in the 20th Century”, recognizing ultranationalist groups like the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) as freedom fighters.

The above term also includes anyone who fought for Ukraine's independence between November 1917 and August 24, 1991, as part of formal, informal, underground, military or guerrilla groups.

Representatives of Poland's Democratic Left Alliance consider the Ukrainian Rada's recognition of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as fighters for independence a slap in the face to the people of Poland and to its president, Polish Press Agency reports.

Glorification of Ukrainian Nazi Collaborators is a Slap in Poland's Face
The move came several hours after Komorowski's visit to Ukraine and his call for reconciliation between the Polish and Ukrainian people, following their difficult and complex common history.

The president then expressed hope that old disputes and quarrels “will not get in the way in the path to good dialogue between the two countries and peoples.”

Over the past decade, Ukrainian-Polish relations have been strained by Ukrainian historians' growing attempts to rehabilitate the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Polish historians blame the killing of between 100,000 and 130,000 Polish civilians and 5,000-10,000 Ukrainian civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia on the UPA, claims which Ukrainian historians have downplayed or denied outright.

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