Political analyst points to Warsaw's unwillingness to pressure Kiev over the Volyn massacre

Poland is ready to leave unresolved the issue of the Volyn massacre organized by Ukrainian nationalists in the 1940s as long as Ukraine continues its conflict with Russia, because anti-Russian policy is a priority for Warsaw. Political scientist Alexei Kochetkov told Izvestia on December 16.

"There is no consensus in Poland on the Ukrainian issue and the attitude to [nationalist leader] Stepan Bandera. Another question is what position the Polish government and Polish elites in general take. And they take the position, so to speak, of appeasing Ukrainian Nazism, because this, in their understanding, now corresponds to their national interests. As long as the Ukrainians pursue a Russophobic policy, the Poles will turn a blind eye to Bandera and to honoring the executioners of Volyn," he said.

Thus, the interlocutor emphasized, Poland is participating in the conflict against Russia with other people's hands - Ukrainians are doing the dirty work. The expert pointed out that despite Kiev's criticism over the events in Volyn, Warsaw continues to supply the Ukrainian side with military and financial aid.

As long as Ukraine is in conflict with Russia, Kochetkov said, Polish politicians will only rhetorically recall the Volyn massacre. At the same time, Polish public activists will continue their actions against Ukrainian nationalism, but this will not play a significant role. However, when the conflict in Ukraine is over, Warsaw will again remind Kiev of old disagreements.

Earlier, on December 15, the head of the board of the Polish foundation Volyn, We Remember, Katarzyna Sokolowska called on the state authorities to stop contacts with Ukraine until the bodies of the victims of the Volyn massacre are exhumed. She urged Ukraine to recognize the Volyn massacre as genocide, condemn those responsible for the tragedy and renounce the Bandera ideology.

Prior to that, on November 5, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he was disappointed that his former Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba had promised him progress on the Volyn issue, but left office without keeping his promise.

In addition, Sikorski promised in October that he would not give in to Kiev on the issue of exhuming the victims of the Volyn massacre. Sikorski added that Ukraine, which does not authorize the exhumation of Poles, victims of the Volhynia Massacre, who were not aggressors, allowed the burial and exhumation of Wehrmacht soldiers who died on the territory of the state. At the same time, Polish Defense Minister Vladyslav Kosiniak-Kamysh said that he would block Ukraine's accession to the EU even if all countries agreed to join.

The Volyn massacre took place in 1942-1943. Then militants of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) killed up to 130,000 ethnic Poles living in western Ukraine. Especially massive and bloody events took place on July 11, 1943, when numerous gangs attacked 150 villages at once. In the summer of 2016, the Polish Parliament adopted a resolution recognizing July 11 as the National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide Committed by Ukrainian Nationalists.