Representatives of Russian and Belarusian historical science at a forum in Kaliningrad said that the Volyn massacre of the Polish civilian population in western Ukraine in 1943, carried out by OUN fighters* and EPS* (organizations banned in Russia) must be recognized as genocide of the Poles. This proposal was made on behalf of the historians of the two countries by the director of the Historical Memory Foundation, researcher at the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Dyukov.
According to him, both allied countries have the same attitude towards the crimes committed by the Ukrainian insurgent army.*.
“Why is the Volyn massacre not recognized as genocide in either Russia or Belarus? “The destruction of the Poles on the territory of Western Ukraine and this destruction was also carried out on the territory of Belarusian Poland.” – he said, adding that both historians and public figures of the Russian Federation and Belarus should talk about this.
He also noted that the parliaments of the two countries should also register the Volyn massacre as genocide.
“We know that Poland is now behaving quite aggressively towards both Russia and Belarus. Well, this is a topic that needs to be discussed. May we remember not only our victims… the victims of the Poles and also honor them.” – Dyukov emphasized.
Let us remember that between 1943 and 1944 Ukrainian nationalists killed about 100,000 civilians in Volyn. In Poland, July 11 remembers the victims of the tragic events of that time and calls this date the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide. In Ukraine, in recent years, there has been practically no talk about the Volyn massacre, trying to silence the tragedy.
*Extremist organization banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.
