Alliance in Tatters - Ukraine and Poland End Honeymoon as Poland’s Parliament Passes anti-Bandera Law
The President of Poland signed the so-called anti-Bandera law. The very one that provides for criminal liability for denying the Ukrainian nationalists’ crimes. He signed it, despite the protests of Kiev.
Yekaterina Kadyshkina will tell about how everyone quarreled about it.
The law on Donbass reintegration wasn’t abolished during the first meeting of the Ukrainian Parliament in this political season. The idea of not adopting the law was supported only by 37 parliamentarians out of the required 226. The initiative to abolish the law came from the Opposition Bloc. The faction leader Yury Boyko called it harmful to the country.
The law was adopted on January 18. South-East of Ukraine, the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, are called occupied territories, and Russia — an aggressor state. After the adoption of the law, President of Ukraine receives the right to use the army in Donbass without the parliament’s consent and without declaring war. Experts say that instead of trying to resolve the situation, Ukraine blames everything on Russia and forgets about the Minsk agreements.
Mikhail Pogrebinsky, director of the Kiev Center for Political Studies and Conflictology: "The bill itself is aimed at refraining from reintegration of Donbass, in fact, it puts an end to attempts to reintegrate it. Voting for this law, they say, ‘We don’t need this Donbass, which will vote incorrectly, which will prevent us from moving towards NATO, towards the European Union. Let's close the topic.’ That's the way to close the topic".
Another issue on the agenda of Ukrainian parliamentarians is Poland. Rada expressed concern and disappointment about the changes in the law on the Institute of National Memory. The denial of the Ukrainian nationalists’ crimes in Poland is now punishable by a criminal responsibility. For example, it’s about the so-called Volhynia massacre in 1943 and 1944, the mass killing of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists led by Bandera. Today, President of Poland Andrzej Duda announced that he had signed the law.
Andrzej Duda: "Considering the need to protect the good name of Poland and the Poles, I decided to sign this renewal of the law. But, since objectivity is important to me, I also decided to send it to the Constitutional Court to verify its compliance with the Constitution".
The leader of the Radical Party Oleg Lyashko stated that Poland only loses from the adoption of such a law.
Oleg Lyashko: "Today, Poland is turning into a weak state instead of being our advocate and our powerful ally, a state where powers and ideas that weaken Poland itself are gaining popularity. Perhaps, today it sounds unreal, but given the policy pursued by chauvinistic circles in Poland, I don’t exclude the possibility that Poland can raise territorial claims to Ukraine".
However, experts note that while condemning the Polish law, Ukraine only emphasizes that it has no place in the European Union.
Vadim Trukhachev, the RSUH senior lecturer: "In order to join the EU, they need to negotiate with all the member-countries. And there are countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, where Bandera is a negative character. There are Hungary and Romania, which don’t like the law on education which forbids to have their own schools. There are countries further away, like France, which will very nervously perceive the glorification of anyone who collaborates with the Nazis".
Now, the Rada intends to invite the Ukrainian ambassador to Warsaw to speak from the parliamentary rostrum to understand how and why the Ukrainian nationalists, this is the quote by deputy Vinnik, are seen as criminals.
Yekaterina Kadyshkina, Olga Olvukhina, and Natalya Uvarova, Vesti.