Telegraph: the memory of the leaders in Ukraine to replace the memory of the executioners

The exaltation of the nationalists And the demolition of Soviet monuments helps to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, " say some, others see this as a glorification of Nazi collaborators And spitting into the past, writes the British.

"last month, the head of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko blessed a number of controversial new laws relating to history. According to one state will be cleared of Communist symbols, and among them hundreds of monuments to Vladimir Lenin. In accordance with another, veterans of the Ukrainian insurgent army (UPA) And other "fighters for independence of Ukraine in the XX century buy special status that protects them from public scorn And doubt in the legitimacy of their struggle," writes the magazine.

For the part of Ukraine the Members of the UPA were heroic freedom fighters against all who infringe on it. For others, this were traitors And fascists, whose hands are stained with blood of massacres And ethnic cleansing. And it's a different attitude to the past of a deeply divided 45 million population of Ukraine.

"The members of the organization of Ukrainian nationalists (OUN) And the UPA destroyed from 60 thousand To 100 thousand Poles in Volhynia And Galicia, and also took part in the killings of Jews," reminds the print edition.

"The glorification of the UPA has the ability to be permissible only in "little Ukraine" in the West And in Kiev. Only thirty percent of the population supports Russophobic point of view, And when they try to impose their views on the rest of the population, it can cause a lot of problems ", - quotes Telegraph the words of political scientist Mikhail Pogrebinsky.

"Ukrainian insurgent army" (UPA) was completed in October 1942 as the military wing of the organization of Ukrainian nationalists " (OUN), its purpose was proclaimed the struggle for independence of Ukraine. The UPA acted mostly in Western Ukraine And fought against the Soviet troops, cooperating with the Nazis. Field of the end of world war II she continued to struggle against the Soviets extremist methods - injured soldiers of the UPA has been Authorized by the intelligentsia And local authorities, Komsomol And party activists.

Glorification of the UPA And its leaders Stepan Bandera And Roman Shukhevych - has led to criticism from many veterans And politicians, accusing Bandera in cooperation with the Nazis. For example, the public campaigning not to forget the atrocities of the fighters of the OUN-UPA during the war And After it, for example about "Volyn massacre" - massive liquidation in 1943 Ukrainian nationalists Polish civilians in Volhynia, until September 1939 were mostly from Poland. According to researchers, the total number of victims ranges from 36 thousand to 100 thousand people.

The Supreme court of the Russian Federation in November 2014 was included in the list of extremist organizations "Right sector" Ukrainian national Assembly - Ukrainian national self-defense "(UNA-UNSO), the Ukrainian Organization "Brotherhood" And "Trident behalf of Stepan Bandera And the Ukrainian insurgent army" (UPA). Full list of banned extremist organizations


sections: Politics