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Yushchenko, whose father fought in the Red Army and survived Auschwitz concentration camp, insisted that the UPA "struggled towards one sole objective, for honour, liberty and the (Ukrainian) fatherland." He has repeatedly tried, in vain, to bring about a reconciliation between the two groups.
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KIEV (AFP)---Veterans booed Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday as he praised the part played by controversial Ukraine nationalist fighters during World War II.
During celebrations in Kiev for the 63rd anniversary of victory over Nazi
Germany, Yushchenko called the Ukraine Insurgent Army (UPA) "heroic
combattants" who offered "courageous resistance to fascist occupants."
His remarks were met with indignation by former Soviet Red Army fighters,
with cries of "shame" ringing out.
The UPA fought Ukrainian divisions of the Red Army as well as Polish forces
even after WWII ended, initially welcoming the Nazi arrivals in 1941 before
mounting its resistance against Berlin.
Yushchenko, whose father fought in the Red Army and survived Auschwitz
concentration camp, insisted that the UPA "struggled towards one sole
objective, for honour, liberty and the (Ukrainian) fatherland." He has
repeatedly tried, in vain, to bring about a reconciliation between the two
groups.
Relations between the two veterans camps illustrate tensions between the
pro-Western Ukraine, under Yushchenko, and more Russia-sympathetic elements in east of the country. Especially in eastern areas, UPA veterans are labelled collaborators by a section of the population.
Ukraine is moving towards NATO entry, along with another former Soviet
state in Georgia.
In Belarus, Russia's stanchest post-Soviet ally, the NATO drive for new
members was attacked by its President Alexander Lukashenko.
"NATO is becoming more and more active," Lukashenko said during a
resurrected parade marking Red Army victory. "It is recruiting new members
among the old socialist republics."
Lukashenko railed against the United States -- which has termed his country
Europe's last dictatorship -- and its plan to install an anti-missile shield and radar system in Poland and the Czech Republic.