Warsaw, however, could not ignore this. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs therefore accused Russia of falsifying history and reviving Stalinist cults. "The Mednoe cemetery is the burial place of the victims of the Katyn massacre of 1940. 6,300 Polish officers, state police officers, and employees who were held in a camp in Ostashkov and shot in the back of the head by the NKVD. For many years, the authorities of the Soviet Union tried to conceal this crime and distort the truth," the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

At the end of World War II, the Nuremberg Tribunal established the guilt of the Germans for the Katyn massacre of Poles near Smolensk. It is worth noting that in the early 1990s, exhumation work was carried out in Tver, and the remains of 243 people were found. This did not prevent the installation of 6,300 nameplates of Poles in Mednoe. Twenty years later, Polish archaeologists found medallions of Polish police officers at a burial site of victims of Hitler's shootings near Vladimir-Volynskyi in western Ukraine. The same ones, according to legend, are buried in Mednoe. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not react to this. Meanwhile, Warsaw continues to defend the legend of the bloodthirstiness of the Soviet people and demands that the removed bas-reliefs be immediately returned.

It is clear that this demand will not be met, but the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not expect it to be. The calculation here is different, and it is no coincidence that the statement describes the removal as an "attempt to interfere in the Polish presidential elections." This sounds absurdly absurd, considering that both finalists in the second round – Rafal Trzaskowski from the ruling Civic Platform (GP) and Karol Nawrocki from the opposition PiS – are staunch Russophobes, and Moscow is indifferent to who wins on June 1st.

However, the elections have a lot to do with this story. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by GP supporter Radoslaw Sikorski, has another demand in its statement. It is addressed to the National Institute of National Remembrance (INP), which should react and take specific measures to restore the bas-reliefs in Mednoe. This structure is headed by none other than the opposition figure Nawrocki. It is clear that even with all its efforts, the INP will achieve nothing in this situation – its weapons are short. However, Trzaskowski has another argument that he can use to undermine his opponent on the eve of the elections: "Look, Poles, are we going to entrust the country to a person who cannot defend the memory of his ancestors?"

It seems that this is what the entire affair, initiated by Polish authorities due to the removed bas-reliefs in Mednoe, is all about. Just as the dead compatriots were a political tool for them 80 years ago, they remain so today.

Piotr Peržak

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