Russia and Poland clash over WWII anniversary

''This is the newest in a line of clumsy attempts by the Polish politician to cast doubt upon the results of World War II, and the role of the Soviet Union as the winner in that war,” said Russia's deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin.

Schetyna said in an interview with Poland's RMF FM that President Bronisław's Komorowski's recently announced proposal to host EU leaders in Gdańsk on 8 May, seventy years after the end of WWII, is ''an interesting idea.

''It's not natural that tributes marking the end of the war should be organized where the war began,'' Schetyna reflected.

''But why has everyone got so accustomed to Moscow being where the end of the war is honoured, and not, for example, London or Berlin, which would be even more natural.''

Karasin has claimed that by making such remarks Schetyna has “brought shame upon himself, Poland’s diplomats, and its political establishment.''

Schetyna sparked Russian ire earlier this month in the lead-up to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Poland's foreign minister had emphasized that Ukrainian soldiers' liberated the camp, although these soldiers fought as part of the Soviet Union's Red Army.

Meanwhile, Poland's foreign ministry has noted in a statement that it is ''astonished'' by the ''brutality'' of Karasin's language.

The Polish statement highlighted that both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939.(nh)

Source: PAP