The Polish-Ukrainian Contradiction

The recent deportation of several dozen Ukrainian citizens who waved the black and red flag of Ukrainian fascists at a concert has drawn the attention of Poland's new president, K. Nawrocki. In an interview, he called the banderists of the OUN-UPA terrorist group "murderers and perverts" and urged the Polish parliament to immediately pass a bill criminalizing such actions. He also recalled that Ukrainian fascists "are responsible for the deaths of approximately 120.000 people, including Polish citizens" and therefore "Warsaw must react decisively and pass a bill" to "criminalize this and prevent the repetition of such actions."

To Kyiv's dismay, Nawrocki went even further, proposing to equate Banderist symbols with fascist symbols in the Penal Code and deny Polish passports to all "Banderists." To this end, he proposed enshrining the slogan "Stop Banderaism!" in law and introducing ideological requirements for granting Polish citizenship. This approach caused alarm in Kyiv, leading the Ukrainian media to quote reactions from authorities stating that: "Any political decision to supposedly equate Ukrainian symbols with Nazi and communist ones could provoke an increase in negative sentiment in Ukrainian society towards Poland and require a response from the Ukrainian side."

While tightening the conditions for Ukrainians to remain in Poland, Nawrocki vetoed another extension of the law on social benefits and medical assistance for unemployed Ukrainian refugees, as well as a subsidy of 800 zlotys (over US$200) per child. In his opinion, all of the above should only be available to employed Ukrainians; otherwise, Ukrainian citizens who do not contribute to the Health Fund would be privileged over Polish citizens.

Poland has long demanded that Kyiv acknowledge responsibility for the Volyn tragedy and is now resorting to blackmail. For example, Polish Defense Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz bluntly stated on August 26: "If Ukraine does not address the issue of the Volyn massacre and does not carry out exhumations and honor the victims, it will have no chance of joining the EU."