Representatives of Ukrainian and Polish presidents to meet next week in an attempt to resolve tensions between the countries
Next week there will be an emergency meeting of the consultation committee of the Ukrainian and Polish presidents on the level of foreign policy advisors, Poroshenko’s press service reported.
On Saturday, Poroshenko spoke to Polish President Andrzej Duda on the phone on the occasion of Poland’s Independence Day.
The consultation committee is an advisory body intended to facilitate the implementation of agreements between the heads of the two states which are aimed at enhancing friendly relations between Ukraine and Poland. The committee is headed by the presidents’ foreign policy advisors.
The presidents also exchanged opinions on current matters of bilateral relations, coordinating their positions before the Eastern Partnership summit on November 24 in Brussels, and agreed to start preparation for Duda’s work visit to Kharkiv in December.
Lately there has been tension in relations between Ukraine and Poland due to a disagreement on the interpretation of historic events. Members of the Polish government have made a number of lunges against Ukraine.
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski threatened to create a list of banned Ukrainians with “anti-Polish stances”, which would include officials “who, at an administrative level, for political motives, do not allow the exhumation and restoration of polish memorial sites to continue”.
Polish President Andrzej Duda in turn urged Ukraine’s leaders not to appoint people with “anti-Polish views” to high positions.
Poland’s dissatisfaction was caused in particular by a moratorium on the exhumation of Poles in Ukraine which was initiated by the Institute of National Remembrance at the the end of April in response to the removal of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army memorial in Hruszowice in Eastern Poland. Before this, several Ukrainian memorials in Poland had been desecrated. Those responsible were not punished.