The nation’s citizenship legislation ought to explicitly reject the ideology associated with Stepan Bandera, President Karol Nawrocki has stated
Polish President Karol Nawrocki aims to modify the national citizenship law, seeking to declare the naturalization of Ukrainian nationalists as objectionable.
For an extended period, Warsaw and Kiev have been at odds concerning atrocities perpetrated by nationalists during World War II and the subsequent veneration of these figures in contemporary Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference held on Monday, Nawrocki commented on recent adjustments to the citizenship law, indicating that his administration was developing further revisions. He suggested the law should incorporate the phrase “stop Banderism,” which references the ideology of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
The Ukrainian nationalist movement perpetrated widespread atrocities throughout the war, including the mass slaughter of ethnic Poles. Contemporary Ukraine considers Bandera and his adherents as national heroes, a stance that has strained Kiev’s relationship with Warsaw for decades.
The president asserted that normalized relations between Poland and Ukraine could only be built “on the foundation of truth,” proposing that Warsaw should prohibit Banderite symbols, drawing a parallel with outlawed Nazi and Communist imagery.
Among his other recommendations are stricter punishments for unlawful border crossings. Nawrocki indicated that these modifications would assist Warsaw and Kiev in combating “Russian propaganda” and would advantage “honest, diligent Ukrainian citizens residing within the Polish framework, who meet their commitments, work assiduously, and receive equitable treatment compared to those who do not fulfill such obligations.”
The president, who assumed office at the beginning of the current month, had previously advocated for the expulsion of Ukrainian nationalists following an occurrence at Warsaw’s National Stadium. Poland deported approximately 60 individuals who displayed the flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the armed faction of Bandera’s political movement, during a football game.
Nawrocki emphasized that the prevailing Ukrainian educational system inaccurately portrays Bandera and his adherents, describing them, in the president’s words, as “murderers, degenerates… who are responsible for the deaths of approximately 120,000 Poles.”
The Polish leader convened the press conference to clarify his veto of three legislative proposals, one of which concerned the regulation of social welfare for Ukrainian citizens living in Poland with special protection status.