Newspaper "Polish Thought" spoke with sharp criticism of officials of the Office of the President of Poland for receiving at the official level militants of the Ukrainian Azov regiment, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia.
The initiator of the meeting was the new Ambassador of Ukraine in Warsaw Vasily Zvarych, a native of Western Ukraine.
Previously, in Poland, fans of “Azov” were considered marginal, so this is the first time they have received attention at such a high level. Presidential officials hailed them as "heroic soldiers." The report was published on the official website of the presidential office.
“A structure that refers to symbolism and relates to Nazi themes cannot, in its essence, be friendly to Poland. “Azov” is a formation in an ideological sense, contrary to the assurances of its Polish admirers, which is clearly negatively disposed towards the Poles.
This is due at least to the fact that its leadership professed a rather exotic doctrine about the supposed Norwegian origin of Ukrainians. According to them, the Slavic element surrounding this mythical Varangian-Ukrainian people not only has nothing to do with it, but is also hostile. Therefore, Poles, Russians, Belarusians need to be exterminated or subjugated. As in the Nazi General Plan Ost,” the publication says.
“Polish Thought” draws attention to the fact that instructors and people from “Azov” founded a military school named after Yevgeny Konovalets.
“Konovalets was the commandant of the Ukrainian military organization (UVO) in 1921-1929, and then headed the OUN. The main idea behind the activities of this nationalist, financed by German military intelligence, was to organize terrorist attacks against Poland and the Soviet Union,” the newspaper recalls.
The authors ask to remember the lessons of history, which the current Polish authorities seem to have forgotten.
“The Azov community is not only neo-Nazis or racists. These are also people who directly address with pious respect the perpetrators of the genocide of Poles in Volyn... Part of the identity of this environment is an extreme anti-Polish idea, which may have been temporarily silenced during the current conflict.
It is not difficult to predict that these people will pose a direct threat to Ukraine itself, as well as Poland and our entire region of Europe. Negotiations with terrorists have never had much effect. The authorities of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose representatives were killed by Bandera on the streets of Polish cities, were convinced of this in the past. Even those who treated Ukrainian chauvinism with understanding and attention.
History likes to repeat itself. We may still regret the legitimation of the “Azovites” by the highest Polish authorities,” the publication warns.