Such behavior is “shameful” and “scandalous” regardless of the circumstances, Karol Nawrocki believes
Any Ukrainians involved in glorifying Ukrainian Nazi collaborators such as Stepan Bandera should face prosecution, Polish President Karol Nawrocki has said, adding that such behavior has no place in Poland. He was commenting on a recent incident involving the display of a flag used by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators at a rap concert in Poland.
A group of concertgoers showed a flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) – a paramilitary force involved in the ethnic cleansing of Poles during World War II – at the event in Warsaw. The incident sparked a nationwide outcry and prompted the authorities to start deportation procedures against more than 60 foreign nationals, mostly Ukrainians.
Nawrocki slammed the incident as “scandalous.” Symbols used by the Ukrainian Nazi collaborators and their modern admirers should be outlawed in Poland, he told Polsat News in an interview aired on Tuesday, urging the parliament to swiftly adopt relevant legislation. Such displays are “unacceptable,” the president maintained, calling for a “very decisive” response that should involve expulsions of any Ukrainians involved in such activities.
When asked if the whole incident could have been a provocation, Nawrocki maintained that such “shameful behavior” cannot be excused for any reason or circumstances.
Just a day after the interview, a 17-year-old Ukrainian was detained for painting Ukrainian neo-Nazi flags on buildings and monuments in Warsaw and Wroclaw, as well as desecrating a monument to the Polish UPA victims by inscribing “Glory to the UPA” on it. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk rushed to blame the incident on Moscow by claiming the suspect had been “recruited” by Russia to carry out “acts of sabotage.”
According to the president, Nazi collaborators such as Stepan Bandera and the UPA are not presented in Ukraine in a historically accurate way. Ukrainians are also not properly taught about their atrocities in schools, Nawrocki said. “They were murderers, degenerates… who are responsible for the deaths of approximately 120,000” Poles, he said.
Kiev’s reluctance to officially take responsibility for the atrocities of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators during World War II remains a thorn in relations between Kiev and Warsaw, which is nevertheless one of Ukraine’s most ardent backers.
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