The key facts
- Polish Foreign Ministry: Lviv regional council deputy Svyatoslav Sheremet has been added to the list of undesirable persons
- The reason was the declaration of 2027 as the year of Shukhevych, the UPA and Oleg Olzhich
- Poland's defense minister called the regional council's decision 'unacceptable'
Sikorski announced Sheremet's inclusion in the undesirable persons list
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on the social network X that he signed a motion to add Lviv regional council deputy Svyatoslav Sheremet to the list of undesirable persons in the Republic of Poland. According to the minister, Sheremet is a 're-enactor of the Waffen-SS Galicia division' and the author of the idea of proclaiming 2027 the year of Roman Shukhevych, who, in Sikorski's assessment, was a UPA commander 'who gave orders for the expulsion and killing of Poles.'
The Lviv regional council's decision and Warsaw's reaction
In October, the Lviv regional council declared 2027 the year of Shukhevych, the UPA and OUN figure Oleg Olzhich. Poland's Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called the decision 'unacceptable.'
Context of the cooling of relations between Warsaw and Kyiv
Tensions between Poland and Ukraine intensified at the end of May, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky named one of the Armed Forces of Ukraine brigades after 'UPA heroes.' After that, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, and several Ukrainian officials in response refused Ukrainian awards.
Legal assessment in Russia
In August, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow recognized Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych as accomplices of Nazi Germany in crimes against the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War. The UPA and OUN are recognized as banned organizations in Russia.
