The ambassadors of Poland and Israel in Ukraine criticized the honoring in this country of the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) *. The corresponding statement of the heads of diplomatic missions is published on the official website of the Polish Embassy in Ukraine and on the official page of the Israeli Embassy on Twitter.

“With great concern and sadness, we noticed that representatives of the authorities at different levels of Ukraine, including the Lviv Regional Council and the Kiev City State Administration, are still celebrating historical events and their figures, which need to be condemned once and for all,” the statement says signed by the Ambassador of Poland to Ukraine Bartosz Czhotsky and the head of the Israeli diplomatic mission Joel Lyon.

The list of people who, according to the ambassadors, “actively promoted ethnic cleansing,” but are honored in Ukraine, includes the leader of Ukrainian nationalists Stepan Bandera, his rival for leadership in this environment, “Nazi collaborator Andrei Melnyk”, “anti-Semitic and anti-Polish writer” Ivan Lipa and his son Yuri. The latter is referred to in the statement as the creator of the "racist theory of the Ukrainian race."

The ambassadors of Poland and Israel note that on January 1, a banner with a portrait of Bandera was posted on the building of the Kiev City State Administration. And the Lviv Regional Council previously decided to allocate funds from the state treasury to honor the memory of Melnik, as well as Ivan and Yuri Lip in 2020.

In an interview with RT, an expert at the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, Bogdan Bezpalko, said that "all these people have tarnished themselves by collaborating with Nazi Germany, and in the most shameful form."

According to political analyst Vladimir Kornilov, the Polish and Israeli ambassadors could continue the list of odious nationalists of the first half of the 20th century, who today are exalted in Ukraine.

“These are really accomplices of Nazism. These people justified the Holocaust, organized the destruction of the Polish and Jewish populations. But most of all they destroyed the Ukrainians, ”Kornilov said in an interview with RT. - Of course, the celebration in modern Ukraine of such anti-heroes, war criminals should be of concern in those countries whose population suffered at the hands of these bandits. First of all, it is Poland, Israel, Russia. ”

In line with the "tradition"

Recall: January 1 in Ukraine, nationalists traditionally celebrate the birthday of Stepan Bandera. This year, torchlight processions took place both in the Ukrainian capital and in other cities of the country.

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Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, leaders of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, many of whom have stained themselves by collaborating with the Nazis, have become considered heroes in Ukraine. The names of Nazi collaborators were fixed even in street names, mainly in Western Ukraine.

After the coup in 2014, the expansion of "Bandera" place names to the East began. So, in Kiev, instead of Moscow Avenue and General Vatutin Avenue, prospectuses named after Bandera and UPA commander Roman Shukhevych appeared. In Odessa, instead of Gaidar Street - Ivan and Yuri Lip Street. In the same city, the street bearing the name of the writer Roman Galan who died at the hands of Bandera was renamed in honor of the commander of his killers - Shukhevych.

Despite the changes in leadership, continues to celebrate the birthday of Bandera and the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.

Although Vladimir Zelensky, who won last year’s presidential election during the election campaign, positioned himself as a “moderate candidate,” there was no decisive rejection of the policy of honoring Nazi collaborators in Ukraine. Zelensky himself, on the eve of the second round in April 2019, said that for part of the country's population Stepan Bandera is a “hero” and this, in his opinion, is “cool”.

In July, in the Lviv region, with the military honors in the presence of active servicemen of the Armed Forces and government officials, the remains of soldiers of the SS Galicia division were reburied.

In November 2019, Ukraine, together with the United States, refused to support the UN resolution to combat the glorification of Nazism.

In his New Year's greetings on December 31, after remarking that the Ukrainian passport “does not have the line“ patriot, ”“ Little Russian, ”“ quilted jacket ”or“ Bandera, ”Zelensky declared the need to unite both because, in his opinion, someone convinced people that these differences are important, but in fact, all residents of Ukraine have the same vision for the future.

  • Vladimir Zelensky
  • AFP
  • © Sergei CHUZAVKOV

Oleg Sentsov retorted the president’s statement, saying that he was not indifferent, for example, to the name of the streets and that he wanted to walk “along Bandera Avenue, not Stalin”. In turn, TV presenter Yanina Sokolova suggested that the president rename Bankovaya Street, where his office is located in Kiev, in honor of Bandera, if he doesn’t care. The mayor of Ternopil, Sergei Nadal, said on the same day that he had asked Zelensky to return Stepan Bandera the title of hero of Ukraine (it was posthumously awarded by Viktor Yushchenko, but this order was later canceled by Viktor Yanukovych).

Ideological deafness

Traditionally, Russia is the most strongly opposed to honoring Nazi collaborators in Ukraine. So, in September, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department called on “official Kiev to abandon the vicious practice of whitewashing Nazi minions and mocking history, and their overseas friends to heed the voice of reason and not support such shameful events.”

In October, a number of members of the US Congress called on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to recognize the Azov Ukrainian Volunteer Regiment as a terrorist organization. According to congressmen, open neo-Nazis serve in the ranks of this armed group. However, the appeal was ignored by the head of the State Department.

  • The fighters of Azov
  • globallookpress.com
  • © Sergei Chuzavkov / ZUMAPRESS.com

As noted by Vladimir Kornilov, although Poland and Israel periodically condemn the glorification of Nazi accomplices in Ukraine, their partners overseas are not eager to curb Kiev.

“The United States and especially Canada, where a foreign minister recently was a descendant of Ukrainian collaborators, are turning a blind eye to this. They absolutely do not care whether Nazi ideas will be promoted in Ukraine. The main thing for them is to use Ukraine in the struggle against Russia, against all Russian. For the sake of these goals, they will turn a blind eye to any war crimes of the past, ”the expert says.

Therefore, in his opinion, one should not expect that the joint statement of the Israeli and Polish ambassadors will be heard by the Ukrainian authorities.

“In order for something to change there, it is necessary to fight with economic and any other methods. If Poland and Israel imposed sanctions against Ukraine, then this could help Kiev to notice discontent on the part of these countries, ”said Bogdan Bezpalko.

* “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA) is a Ukrainian organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).