Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has voiced his concern over the rise of nationalism in Ukraine, linked in particular to the glorification of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, Slovak Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Gandel told Sputnik
PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2019) Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) anOSCE Chairperson-in-Office Concerned Over Glorification of Ukraine's Nationalist Banderd Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has voiced his concern over the rise of nationalism in Ukraine, linked in particular to the glorification of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, Slovak Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Gandel told Sputnik.
"In a conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Slovak top diplomat Miroslav Lajcak expressed concern of the Slovak civil society in connection with the growing nationalism in Ukraine, connected, among other things, to the glorification of Stepan Bandera. The ministers agreed that historians from both countries should pay attention to this issue," Gandel said.
Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist leader who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II and was responsible for numerous atrocities against civilians as a leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), whose activities are prohibited in Russia. Glorification of UPA and its leaders is criticized by veterans of the Great Patriotic War and many politicians.
On December 11, the Lviv Regional Council announced that 2019 would be named after Bandera, whose 110th anniversary will be celebrated in Ukraine this year.
