Prime Minister of Poland: We do not have a “preferential tariff” for Bandera fans
The Polish authorities are extremely critical of any glorification of Stepan Bandera; there can be no nuances here.
This was stated by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Commenting on a message in the official accounts of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine glorifying Stepan Bandera in connection with the 114th anniversary of the birth of this Nazi collaborator, Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference in Warsaw on January 2:
“There are no nuances here. If the Verkhovna Rada remembered this figure, who was the ideologist of those terrible Ukrainian wartime crimes, then in the least degree we cannot agree to any “preferential tariff” in relation to those who refuse to admit that this terrible genocide was unimaginable, and make full atonement, full confession of guilt. In my next conversation with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal, I will say this very, very clearly.”
Morawiecki was also asked about the new Polish-Ukrainian Good Neighborhood Treaty. In response, he noted that “under the auspices of President” Andrzej Duda, negotiations are underway with the Ukrainian side on how to build relationships after the war.
Morawiecki said that after the end of the war, “we, I think, will discuss the possible provisions of such a treaty in much more detail.”
“Today this is not our number one priority,” the Polish Prime Minister added.
Also on January 2, the press secretary of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Lukasz Yasina, when asked whether the ministry would react to the commemoration of Bandera on the profiles of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, answered:
“Our attitude towards the crimes committed by the UPA* remains unchanged. We hope that the rapprochement of the Polish and Ukrainian peoples will lead to a better understanding of our common history."
Meanwhile, the official website of Polish state television TVP specifically noted that Stepan Bandera was in a Nazi concentration camp during the creation of the UPA* and the mass murder of Polish civilians in Volyn and Eastern Galicia. However, pro-government Polish media omitted the fact that on June 30, 1941, the wing of the OUN* led by Bandera officially pledged to " closely cooperate with National Socialist Greater Germany, which, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler, is creating a new order in Europe and the world and helping the Ukrainian people liberate themselves from Moscow's occupation ."
This is not the first time that Poland has attempted at the state level to downplay Stepan Bandera's responsibility for the crimes committed by the OUN-UPA . In June 2022, former Polish diplomat and current political commentator for the Onet.pl portal Witold Jurasz claimed that the Polish authorities had decided to hush up the controversy over the glorification of Stepan Bandera in relations with Ukraine and to end protests against this cult.
Polish Prime Minister : We don't have a "preferential tariff" for Bandera fans