Polish Ambassador: Russia wants to sow discord between Poland and Ukraine
In his interview with with Day news web site, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine, Jan Piekło, said that the Polish and Ukrainian governments understand that "we should not argue under any circumstance," on the contrary it is necessary to cooperate to counter Russian aggression and propaganda.
The Ambassador was commenting on a statement made by the leader of the Law and Justice Party, Jarosław Kaczyński, who recently said that, by making a hero out of Bandera, Ukraine will never be able to join the European community.
"I think, that both in Poland and in Ukraine, such statements are made based mostly on domestic political considerations and are not taking into account the interests of Ukrainian-Polish relations ... There are anti-Ukrainian-minded people in Poland, who are working for their electorate. In these circumstances, it is important that the communication "between our countries'' is preserved, he said.
"History is history, and the future is the future," Piekło said, adding that the Polish and Ukrainian governments understand that "we should not argue under any circumstances."
Piekło also commented on the Volyn tragedy. "This process that we had with the Germans: letters of apology to each other. I know that representatives from both our parties also wrote such letters to each other, and I thought that the process was moving forward. Unfortunately, there is Russia, that now wants to sow discord between us and is doing everything possible to do so," he said.
In addition, according to the Ambassador, the recent acts of vandalism that took place in Huta Pieniacka and the Historical-Memorial Reserve "Bykivnia Graves," were arranged to "sow discord between us."
Jan Piekło also commented on the incident where a Ukrainian flag was burnt during a march in Warsaw in the summer and in December last year in Przemyśl.
"If it was done by a Pole, he does not act in the interests of Poland, but in the interests of someone else ... Recently, someone hung a portrait of Bandera at our embassies. And again – there is a show. Russia understands that social networks are the best weapon for them. This information crosses from social networks into the mainstream ... And this is a problem as Russia achieves what it wants," he said.
According to the Ambassador, it would be a good idea to organize a group of journalists from Poland and Ukraine who have investigative experience, so they could research these types of provocations and fake information and write an article based on them.
"Firstly, it would show that we are working together to uncover fake information. And secondly, it would be necessary to publish the article in the respected journals on both sides - for example, Rzeczpospolita in Poland, and Day in Ukraine, and therefore show that discord between us is a lie," the Ambassador said.