The russian factor in the ukrainian-polish relations escalation at the beginning of the 20th century (on the example of damage to monuments at military cemeteries in Poland and Ukraine)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to carry out a historical analysis of the place and role of the military historical markers of World War II on the territory of Poland and Ukraine in the Ukrainian-Polish relations of the 2010s, the Russian Federation’s information campaigns influence on the interstate and interethnic relations escalation. The methodology of the research is based on a complex of general scientific methods and methods of special historical research to identify, describe and explain the reasons for the escalation in the Ukrainian-Polish relations, which was often caused by the commemoration issue. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that the author, on the basis of a critical analysis of the Ukrainian historiography and information sources, offered a comprehensive understanding of the prerequisites, course and consequences of a short-term escalation of the Ukrainian-Polish political relationsdue to the opposite representation of the damage to monuments at military burials during World War II under the influence of the information psychological operations carried out by the Russian Federation and the intervention of “agents” of the Russian influence in Poland and Ukraine. The Conclusion. According to the author, there were numerous facts of damage to monuments, especially in the period of 2015 – 2017, at military burials of World War II period, which were primarily crimes that should be condemned, and their perpetrators should be identified and claimed criminal liability. At the same time, the actualization of mutual grievances and insults of the common historical past of the Ukrainian and Polish peoples was actively applied to manipulate and broadcast propaganda by the Russian Federation in the hybrid war strategy implementation. Hence, there is a drastic need for an appropriate assessment regarding the political, public and scientific environments of Ukraine and Poland, which used the topic of damage to monuments at military burials actively for the realization of their own interests and to the detriment of the national interests of both states. The full-fledged war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine on February 22, 2022 actualized the above-mentioned issue, which, under the Russian external intervention, may become a noticeable negative factor in strategic Ukrainian-Polish relations in a short- and medium-term historical perspective.