Poland–Ukraine relations
Poland–Ukraine relations revived on an international basis soon after Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Poland was the first country to recognize the independence of Ukraine. Various controversies from the shared history of the two countries' peoples occasionally resurface in Polish–Ukrainian relations, but they tend not to have a major influence on the bilateral relations of Poland and Ukraine.
Poland and Ukraine are respectively, the second- and third-largest Slavic nations, after Russia. The two countries share a border of about. Poland's 2003 acceptance of the 1985 Schengen Agreement created problems with Ukrainian border traffic. On July 1, 2009, an agreement on local border traffic between the two countries came into effect, which enables Ukrainian citizens living in border regions to cross the Polish frontier according to a liberalized procedure.
Ukraine is a member of the Eastern Partnership, a European Union project initiated by Poland in 2009, which aims to provide an avenue for discussions of trade, economic strategy, travel agreements, and other issues between the EU and its Eastern European neighbours.
Ukraine is the country with the largest number of Polish consulates. The two countries have a long shared history – some parts of western Ukraine formed part of the Polish state for several centuries and parts of eastern Poland once had large native Ukrainian populations; the demographics of the regions along the Polish-Ukrainian border were profoundly affected by the 1944 to 1946 population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine and actions such as the 1947 Operation Vistula in the aftermath of World War II. Poland supports Ukraine's European Union and NATO membership.
History of relations
Polish–Ukrainian relations can be traced to the 9th-10th centuries between Kingdom of Poland and Ruthenia and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the often turbulent relations between that state and the mostly polonized nobility and the Cossacks. And even further into the 13th-14th centuries when the Kingdom of Poland and the Ruthenian Kingdom maintained close ties. The Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648 ended the Polish Catholic szlachta′s domination over the Ukrainian Orthodox population.The next stage would be the relations in the years 1918–1920, in the aftermath of World War I, which saw both the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish–Ukrainian alliance. The interwar period would eventually see independent Poland while the Ukrainians had no state of their own, being divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. This situation led to a deterioration in Polish−Ukrainian relations, and it would result in a flare-up of ethnic tensions both during and immediately after World War II.
While this left the Polish–Ukrainian relations in the mid-20th century in a relatively poor state, there was little meaningful and independent diplomacy and contact between the Polish People's Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The situation changed significantly with the fall of communism, when both Poland and Ukraine became fully independent and could once again decide on foreign policies of their own.
In the emigre community however, the very influential Paris-based magazine Kultura, which was smuggled into Poland and read widely, advocated for a rapprochement with Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
Modern era
1989–2004
In September 1989, shortly after the democratic forces led by Solidarity came to power in Warsaw, a group of Polish parliamentarians arrived in Kyiv for the constituent congress of the People's Movement of Ukraine. They supported the aspirations of the national democratic forces of Ukraine. It was then that the foundations of a new model of Polish–Ukrainian relations were laid.Progress in Polish–Ukrainian relations was evidenced by the decision of the Polish Senate of July 27, 1990 on the proclamation of Ukraine on July 16, 1990, the Declaration of State Sovereignty. This document, in particular, states: "Poles, who consider freedom and independence of the Fatherland as their core values, fully understand the turning point in the history of Ukraine—a neighbor with whom they want to live as equal and close peoples, as well as develop cooperation in everything."
On August 3, 1990, the Senate of the Republic of Poland adopted a special statement in which it gave a political and moral assessment of the Vistula action. The statement stated that “the communist authorities, having begun to liquidate units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, at the same time forcibly relocated persons, mainly of Ukrainian nationality. Within three months, about 150,000 people, deprived of their property, houses and shrines, were evicted from various places. For many years they were not allowed to return, and then it was difficult for them to return. The Senate of the Republic of Poland condemns the action "Vistula", typical of totalitarian regimes, and will try to compensate for the insults arising from it. "File:World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2005b.jpg|thumb|Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine, kisses Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland, Davos, 2005
On October 13, 1990 Poland and Ukraine agreed to the "Declaration on the foundations and general directions in the development of Polish–Ukrainian relations". Article 3 of this declaration said that neither country has any territorial claims against the other, and will not bring any in the future. Both countries promised to respect the rights of national minorities on their territories and to improve the situation of minorities in their countries.
Following the failed Soviet coup attempt, Ukraine declared independence on August 24, 1991. A day after the referendum on December 2, 1991, the Republic of Poland was the first foreign country to recognize Ukraine's state independence. Diplomatic relations were established between the two countries on January 8, 1992.
On May 18–19, 1992, the first official visit of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk to the Republic of Poland took place, during which an interstate Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendly Relations and Cooperation was signed, in which it was stated that the countries structures based on the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Paris Charter for a New Europe, "will take and support measures aimed at preserving and developing positive traditions of common heritage, as well as overcoming prejudices and negative stereotypes between the two nations.
On May 24–25, 1993, the President of Poland Lech Wałęsa paid an official visit to Ukraine, one of the main results of which was the establishment of the Advisory Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland. In February of the same year, an agreement on military cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Defense of Poland, which was supplemented in a number of protocols in the following years.
In March 1994, the Declaration of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Poland on the Principles of Ukrainian-Polish Partnership was signed, in which the Ministers of Foreign Affairs for the first time at the interstate level declared the strategic importance of Ukrainian-Polish relations and pledged to develop them in the future.
Poland has agreed to help Ukraine integrate into Western European organizations, primarily NATO and the EU. As Jerzy Kozakiewicz, the first Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine, noted in early 1996, "one of the most important tasks of Polish foreign policy is to spread and strengthen various bilateral instruments in our bilateral relations with Ukraine that would facilitate its path to European institutions." The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine figuratively defined the main direction of cooperation with Poland: "For Ukraine, the way through Moscow leads to Siberia, and through Warsaw, to Paris."
A further important step in creating an organizational infrastructure for bilateral dialogue was the interstate "Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Poland on Cooperation concerning the Protection and Return of Cultural Property Lost and Illegally Displaced during World War II" dated 25 June 1996, which defined and specified the subject and scope of mutual cooperation between the parties. In particular, article 2 of the Agreement declares: "In order to protect, preserve, search for, and return cultural property associated with the culture and history of the Parties, recognized as lost or illegally moved to the territory of the other Party, the Parties shall establish an Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Polish Commission ."
After the visits of Leonid Kuchma to Warsaw on June 25–27, 1996 and the newly elected President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski to Kyiv on May 20–22, 1997, Ukrainian–Polish relations reached the level of a strategic partnership. On May 21, the two heads of state signed a joint informal Declaration of Harmony and Unity.
The purposeful development of Polish–Ukrainian political cooperation allowed Ukraine to enlist the support of Poland in establishing the first dialogue with the United States and the leading states of Europe. The National Security Strategy of Poland declares Warsaw's support for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, in particular, as part of the continuation of the "open door" policy to NATO. In addition, it is emphasized that Polish–Ukrainian cooperation should help consolidate Ukraine's important role in European security policy.
During the official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bronisław Geremek to Ukraine on September 15–16, 1998, the parties agreed to intensify joint actions in order to avoid possible negative consequences of EU enlargement. Bronisław Geremek also noted that his country will continue to support Ukraine's integration aspirations, in particular in gaining the status of an associate member of the EU. At the end of March 1999, the first meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish Conference on European Integration took place in Warsaw.
Although some Ukrainian officials, scholars and political scientists have expressed concern that Poland will turn away from Ukraine after it becomes a member of NATO, support for Ukraine's cooperation and rapprochement with NATO remains a characteristic feature of the Polish state's "Ukrainian policy." This is due to Poland's vision of its national interests in the context of the basic contours of European security and to the desire to play an important role in a renewed Alliance that adapts to modern conditions.
Poland supports Ukraine's European integration for similar reasons. An independent and strong, and most importantly, friendly, Ukraine is an important instrument of Polish Eastern European policy since it significantly counterbalances the Russian Federation's influence and ambition relative to Poland. Speaking in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland on March 5, 1998, B. Geremek had every reason to say that "independent Ukraine is of key strategic importance both for Poland and its security, and for stability in the entire region. Maintaining privileged relations with Ukraine contributes to strengthening European security."