Moscow - Russian State Duma international affairs committee head Konstantin Kosachyov has called on Polish politicians to take a more objective approach toward problems of history in relations with Russia and other countries.
"I cannot get away from the impression that our Polish partners do not always separate emotions and politics," Kosachyov said at a press conference in Moscow.
He mentioned, in particular, a difference in Warsaw’s approaches toward the Katyn Massacre in Russia and the massacre of the Polish population in the western Ukrainian Volyn region by Ukrainian nationalistic organizations in 1943.
"We are talking a lot about the Katyn problem today, and this is absolutely fair. But there are also a lot of other problems. For instance, there is the Volyn problem, which exists not in relations between Poland and Russia but which could exist in relations between Poland and the other former Soviet republic," he said.
Russia has unambiguously qualified the Katyn Massacre as a crime, "but we are still being pressed to dissociate ourselves from Stalinism," he said.
At the same time, "the people who committed that crime in Volyn have been declared heroes" in Ukraine, Kosachyov said.
Kosachyov acknowledged that the former Ukrainian leadership’s steps caused criticism and outrage in Poland. "But I also know that the steps by the-then Ukrainian leadership – let’s be fair – have not caused problems between Poland and Ukraine like Katyn is continuing to cause problems between Poland and Russia," he said.
Kosachyov said he was frustrated that Warsaw "does not take just as principled, consistent, and active approach on other just as tragic issues for Poland."
