Western border of the USSR before 1939. Polish campaign of Stalin

The territory of the USSR was truly huge. Despite the impressive scale of Soviet possessions, in 1939 the current leadership of the country sent forces to annex the regions of Western Ukraine, some of which, after the complete German defeat, were part of Poland.

First of all, Stalin was interested in these territories as new possessions of a powerful power. An equally important factor for him was security from the western borders.

Taking advantage of the favorable moment after the defeat by the Germans, the Red Army occupied part of Eastern Poland, as well as almost the entire territory of Galicia, without much difficulty. There were no particular difficulties, since after the defeat the Polish troops did not particularly try to defend themselves, retreating to the Romanian or Hungarian borders. Therefore, there were practically no serious battles. On the part of the Soviet government, all actions related to the occupation of the lands of Western Ukraine were interpreted as a “sacred duty” to help the fraternal peoples who inhabited Poland at that time. Although the entry of Soviet forces into Poland was not entirely accepted. There was both warm support and complete hostility among the local population.

A mass exodus was noted among Polish officers and government officials. Not wanting to put up with the “occupation” policy, they fled to the West. But the bulk of the population hoped for support from the Soviet government, so many residents of defeated Poland took a wait-and-see attitude. Especially during that period, Soviet troops supported socially vulnerable sections of the population. And the USSR took every action to “beautifully” present its rise to power. Loud slogans about social justice brought results, making it possible to easily adjust local residents to their ideological way. But, according to modern historians, the Soviet government did not take into account that at that time Western Ukraine was a completely alien region for the USSR in terms of social and ideological aspects.

The role of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in the annexation of Western Ukrainian lands

Many historians today assign a decisive role in the distribution of lands in Western Ukraine to the Germans. Thus, after the conclusion of the Pact, the Ukrainian lands, which were part of Poland, safely became part of the mighty Soviet power in the fall of 1939. Already on September 28, the agreement concluded between Germany and the USSR completely erased Polish lands from the map.

In addition to non-aggression obligations between the USSR and Germany, the pact included a separate protocol that clearly stated the territorial structure of the states. According to the agreement, most of the lands that were part of Poland were to become part of the Soviet Union. Then, having annexed the territory, the Soviet Union significantly expanded its territorial borders westward by 250 - 350 km, respectively, increasing the population in the western regions of Ukraine, which were subsequently assigned to the Soviet Union. Today, these territories are already part of Belarus and Ukraine.

On September 17-29, 1939, the Red Army occupied the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were transferred to Poland as a result of the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1921. In November 1939, these territories were officially annexed to the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR. In this material we invite you to look at photographs illustrating this process.

Let us recall that on September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and the Second World War began.
Poland could not resist German troops for long, and already on September 17, the Polish government fled to Romania.
On September 14, directives of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union K. Voroshilov, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army - Army Commander 1st Rank B. Shaposhnikov were issued No. 16633 and 16634, respectively, “On the start of the offensive against Poland.”

At 3:00 on September 17, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.P. Potemkin read a note to the Polish Ambassador in Moscow V. Grzhibowski:

The Polish-German war revealed the internal failure of the Polish state. Within ten days of military operations, Poland lost all of its industrial areas and cultural centers. Warsaw, as the capital of Poland, no longer exists. The Polish government has collapsed and shows no signs of life. This means that the Polish state and its government virtually ceased to exist. Thus, the agreements concluded between the USSR and Poland were terminated. Left to its own devices and left without leadership, Poland turned into a convenient field for all sorts of accidents and surprises that could pose a threat to the USSR. Therefore, being hitherto neutral, the Soviet government cannot be more neutral in its attitude towards these facts.

The Soviet government cannot also be indifferent to the fact that half-blooded Ukrainians and Belarusians living on the territory of Poland, abandoned to the mercy of fate, remain defenseless.

In view of this situation, the Soviet government ordered the High Command of the Red Army to order the troops to cross the border and take under their protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

At the same time, the Soviet government intends to take all measures to rescue the Polish people from the ill-fated war into which they were plunged by their foolish leaders, and to give them the opportunity to live a peaceful life.

Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, the assurances of our utmost respect. People's Commissar
Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. Molotov

The liberation campaign of the Red Army in Poland began.
At 18.00 on September 27, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop arrived in Moscow. The first conversation with Stalin and Molotov took place from 22.00 to 1.00 in the presence of Schulenburg and Shkvartsev. During negotiations on the final outline of the border on Polish territory, Ribbentrop, citing the fact that Poland was “completely defeated by the German armed forces” and Germany “lacks primarily timber and oil,” expressed the hope that “the Soviet government will make concessions in area of ​​oil-bearing areas in the south in the upper reaches of the San River. The German government would expect the same thing at Augustow and Bialystok, since there are extensive forests there that are very important for our economy. A clear solution to these issues would be very useful for the further development of German-Soviet relations." For his part, Stalin, citing the danger of division of the Polish population, which could give rise to unrest and pose a threat to both states, proposed leaving the territory of ethnic Poland in German hands. Regarding German wishes to change the line of state interests in the south, Stalin said “in this regard, any counter steps on the part of the Soviet government are excluded. This territory has already been promised to the Ukrainians... My hand will never move to demand such a sacrifice from the Ukrainians.”

As compensation, Germany was offered supplies of up to 500 thousand tons of oil in exchange for supplies of coal and steel pipes. Regarding concessions in the north, Stalin stated that "The Soviet government is ready to transfer to Germany the salient between East Prussia and Lithuania with the city of Suwalki to a line immediately north of Augustow, but no more." Thus, Germany will receive the northern part of the Augustow Forests. On the afternoon of September 28, a second conversation took place in the Kremlin, during which it became clear that Hitler generally approved the solution to the territorial issue. After this, a discussion began on the border line. Stalin "agreed to the corresponding transfer of the border to the south" in the Augustow Forest. The Soviet side renounced the territory between the Narev and Bug rivers east of the Ostrov-Ostrolenka line, and the German side slightly moved the border to the north in the area of ​​Rava-Ruska and Lyubachuv. A long discussion around Przemysl did not lead to any results, and the city remained divided into two parts along the river. San. During the last round of negotiations from 1:00 to 5:00 on September 29, the Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany was prepared and signed. In addition to the agreement, a confidential protocol was signed on the resettlement of Germans living in the sphere of Soviet interests to Germany, and Ukrainians and Belarusians living in the sphere of German interests to the USSR, and two secret additional protocols. In accordance with another protocol, Lithuania was transferred to the sphere of interests of the USSR in exchange for the Lublin and part of the Warsaw voivodeship, which were transferred to Germany.

The total number of irretrievable losses of the Red Army during the Liberation Campaign in September 1939 is estimated at 1,475 and 3,858 wounded. At the same time, a significant number of losses occurred due to indiscipline and disorganization rather than from enemy actions. Polish losses in battles with the Red Army are not known for sure. They are estimated at 3.5 thousand dead military personnel and civilians, as well as 20 thousand wounded and missing and from 250 to 450 thousand prisoners.

On November 1, 1939, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the law “On the inclusion of Western Ukraine into the USSR with its reunification with the Ukrainian SSR,” and on November 2, 1939, the law “On the inclusion of Western Belarus into the USSR with its reunification with the Byelorussian SSR "

Photos

2. BT-7 tanks of the Soviet 24th light tank brigade enter the city of Lvov. 09/18/1939.

3. Portrait of a Red Army soldier from the crew of an armored car BA-10 in the city of Przemysl. 1939.

4. A T-28 tank fords a river near the town of Mir in Poland (now the village of Mir, Grodno region, Belarus). September 1939

topwar.ru

5. T-26 tanks from the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army enter Brest-Litovsk. On the left is a unit of German motorcyclists and Wehrmacht officers. 09/22/1939

Bundesarchiv. "Bild 101I-121-0012-30 "

6. Meeting of Soviet and German troops in the Polish city of Stryi (now Lviv region of Ukraine). September 1939

reibert.info

7. Meeting of Soviet and German patrols in the Lublin area. September 1939

waralbum/Bundesa rchiv

8. A Wehrmacht soldier talks with the commanders of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army near the city of Dobuchin (now Pruzhany, Belarus). 09/20/1939

Bundesarchiv. "Bild 101I-121-0008-25 "

9. Soviet and German military personnel communicate with each other in Brest-Litovsk. 09/18/1939

10. Commanders of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army near an armored car BA-20 in Brest-Litovsk. In the foreground is battalion commissar Vladimir Yulianovich Borovitsky. 09/20/1939

corbisimages

11. Battalion Commissar of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army Vladimir Yulianovich Borovitsky (1909-1998) with German officers at the BA-20 armored car in Brest-Litovsk. 09/20/1939

12. Wehrmacht soldiers with a Red Army soldier on a Soviet armored car BA-20 from the 29th separate tank brigade in the city of Brest-Litovsk. 09/20/1939

Bundesarchiv. "Bild 101I-121-0008-13 "

13. German and Soviet officers with a Polish railway worker. 1939

This photo is often published cropped, cutting off the left side with the smiling Pole to show off It is true that at that time only the USSR had relations with Nazi Germany.

14. A cavalry detachment passes along one of the streets of Grodno during the days of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366673

15. German officers at the location of a Soviet military unit. In the center is the commander of the 29th Light Tank Brigade, Semyon Moiseevich Krivoshein. Standing nearby is the deputy brigade commander, Major Semyon Petrovich Maltsev. 09/22/1939

16. German generals, including Heinz Guderian, confer with the battalion commissar Borovensky in Brest. September 1939

17. Soviet and German officers discuss the demarcation line in Poland. 1939

Soviet lieutenant colonel art Illerist and German officers in Poland discuss the demarcation line on the map and the associated deployment of troops. German troops advanced significantly east of the pre-agreed lines, crossed the Vistula and reached Brest and Lvov.

18. Soviet and German officers discuss the demarcation line in Poland. 1939

National Archives of the Netherlands

19. Soviet and German officers discuss the demarcation line in Poland. 1939

20. General Guderian and brigade commander Krivoshein during the transfer of the city of Brest-Litovsk to the Red Army. 09/22/1939

During the invasion of Poland, the city of Brest (at that time - Brest-Litovsk) on September 14, 1939 was occupied by the Wehrmacht 19th Motorized Corps under the command of General Guderian. On September 20, Germany and the USSR agreed on a temporary demarcation line between their troops, Brest retreated to the Soviet zone.

On September 21, the 29th separate tank brigade of the Red Army under the command of Semyon Krivoshein, which had previously received an order to take Brest from the Germans, entered Brest. During negotiations on this day, Krivoshein and Guderian agreed on a procedure for the transfer of the city with the ceremonial withdrawal of German troops.

At 16:00 on September 22, Guderian and Krivoshein rose to the low podium. In front of them, German infantry marched in formation with unfurled banners, then motorized artillery, then tanks. About two dozen aircraft flew at low level.

The withdrawal of German troops from Brest, which was attended by Red Army soldiers, is often called a “joint parade” of troops of Germany and the USSR, although there was no joint parade - Soviet troops did not solemnly march through the city along with the German ones. The myth of the “joint parade” is widely used in anti-Russian propaganda to prove the union of the USSR and Germany (which did not exist) and to identify Nazi Germany and the USSR.

21. General Guderian and brigade commander Krivoshein during the transfer of the city of Brest-Litovsk to the Red Army. 09/22/1939

Bundesarchiv."Bi ld 101I-121-0011A-2 3"

22. Red Army soldiers watch the ceremonial withdrawal of German troops from Brest. 09/22/1939

vilavi.ru

23. Trucks with Soviet soldiers are moving along the street in Vilno. 1939

The city of Vilna was part of Poland from 1922 to 1939.

RGAKFD, 0-358949

24. Parade of troops of the Belarusian Military District in honor of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-360462

25. View of one of the streets of Grodno during the days of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-360636

26. View of one of the streets of Grodno during the days of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366568

27. Women at a demonstration in honor of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. Grodno. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366569

28. Demonstration on one of the streets of Grodno in honor of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366567

29. The population at the entrance to the building of the Provisional Administration of the city of Bialystok. 1939

Photo by: Mezhuev A. RGAKFD, 0-101022

30. Election slogans for the People's Assembly of Western Belarus on Bialystok Street. October 1939

RGAKFD, 0-102045

31. A group of youth from Bialystok goes on a campaign bike ride dedicated to the elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. October 1939

RGAKFD, 0-104268

32. Peasants of the village of Kolodina go to the elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. October 1939

Author of the photo: Debabov. RGAKFD, 0-76032

33. Peasants of the village of Transitions of the Bialystok district at a polling station during the elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. September 1939

Photo by: Fishman B. RGAKFD, 0-47116

34. View of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. Bialystok. September 1939

Photo by: Fishman B. RGAKFD, 0-102989

35. View of the meeting hall of the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. Bialystok. October 1939

41. The joy of the reunification of Western Ukraine with the fraternal peoples of the USSR. Lviv. 1939

42. The population of Lvov welcomes the Red Army troops at the parade after the end of the People's Assembly of Western Ukraine. October 1939

Photo by: Novitsky P. RGAKFD, 0-275179

43. Soviet equipment passes through the streets of Lvov after the end of the work of the People's Assembly of Western Ukraine. October 1939

RGAKFD, 0-229827

44. A column of workers passes along one of the streets of Lvov on the day of the celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the October Revolution. 07 November 1939

Photo by: Ozersky M. RGAKFD, 0-296638

Stolbtsovsky district. Remains of the Soviet-Polish border July 21st, 2012

Every year, almost since birth, I visit Belarus in the summer, at my relatives’ dacha in the Stolbtsy district of the Minsk region. The administrative border of Stolbtsovsky and Dzerzhinsky districts runs near the dacha. However, all these years I had no idea in what historical place the dacha was located. Having learned that the current border of the regions is the old (before 1939) border of the USSR with Poland, and this year having read the report tomkad about the study of the border section on the railway near the Kolosovo station, I decided to conduct a similar study.

First, a little history. The Russian-Polish border in these parts passed for a short time at the end of the 18th century - between the second and third sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, that is, between 1793 and 1795. However, it passed somewhat to the west; the city of Stolbtsy, after the second partition, became part of the Russian Empire. In 1815, Poland, as you know, became an autonomous part of Russia, but after the October Revolution, the Polish leader Jozef Pilsudski decided to restore the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the borders of the first partition, but it only worked out until the third. After the Soviet-Polish war, in 1921, the Riga Peace Treaty was concluded between Soviet Russia and Poland, according to which the very border was drawn, traces of which are still hidden in the forests. Western Belarus (like Western Ukraine) went to Poland. This is what the map looked like between 1921 and 1939:

And this is how Belarusian nationalists portrayed it:

Thus, the Kolosovo railway station became a border station on the Polish side. On the Soviet side, train passengers were controlled at the Negoreloe station. By the way, even the Negoreloye-Paris and Stolbtsy-Manchuria trains ran.

All those who came to the country of victorious socialism from the western side were greeted by such a pompous arch with the inscription “Greetings to the workers of the West!”, which, by the way, even the locomotive driver, not to mention the passengers, could not see. By the way, there was a similar arch on the Finnish border in Beloostrov. To the right of the arch stands a wooden Soviet border post.

German war photo from 1941:

And this is a view towards Kolosovo station. To the left of the tracks is the Polish border post. You can see the flag of Poland.

And this is the actual border. View of the Polish side:

And now I show you the results of my research. A little different story. In the forest near Kolosovo there are trenches from the Great Patriotic War.

Everything is already overgrown and the trees have changed. But the forests remember the war.

So, I walked along the railway from Kolosovo station towards Negorely on the right (that is, south-eastern) side. After walking one and a half kilometers, I discovered the ruins of a Polish border post in the forest:

Well. I decided not to risk getting close, since the probability of failure, in my opinion, is quite high :)

Now these are broken concrete ruins, but in past years the building looked like this (another photo in addition to the one presented above):

And on the other side of the former border, right next to the railway, the foundation of a Soviet border post has been preserved:

This is what the place in the photo above looked like in the 1930s. The photo was taken from almost the same angle, except from the tracks. The wooden building on the right is the Soviet border post, of which ruins remain.

And finally, the border itself has also been preserved. There are still clearings in some places along the current border of the Stolbtsovsky and Dzerzhinsky districts. A boundary rampart stretches in the middle.

Here, right next to the railway, the clearing has not been preserved - the shaft goes through the forest:

Here the border can be seen more clearly:

The most interesting find was barbed wire.

Another historical photo:

Perhaps such research can be called archeology in relation to modern history (I don’t know what term to come up with). This border passed here only a little over seventy years ago, and border posts were in operation at that time. Most of the objects associated with the border were destroyed, but certain evidence was still preserved, although not every Minsk resident who came to this forest to pick mushrooms (and these are places popular with mushroom pickers) will remember that it was here that the state border passed and identify its remains. Times change, state borders change. Now the border with Poland runs much further to the west, but a modest reminder of the second Polish Republic still remains.

P.S. - by the way, you can try to look for similar things on the old Soviet-Finnish border near St. Petersburg.

TASS photo chronicle

On September 17, 1939, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Soviet troops entered the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus

The Polish campaign of the Red Army in September 1939, known in Soviet historiography as the liberation campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, ended with the annexation of these territories, most of which were lost following the Peace of Riga of 1921, to the Soviet Union. Currently, they are part of the Grodno and Brest regions of Belarus, as well as the Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions of Ukraine.

The end of Poland

The actions of the Soviet Union, whose troops entered the territory that was then formally part of Poland on September 17, 1939, are debatable in history. Thus, the bulk of modern Polish researchers interpret these events as the USSR aggression against Poland and the division of the country between Nazi Germany and the communist Soviet Union as a result of the “criminal” Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. At the same time, the Poles categorically do not like to remember that by the time the Red Army soldiers crossed the state border, Poland as a state had actually ceased to exist. Its armed forces were defeated by the Wehrmacht, and the government fled to Romania. Moreover, less than a year earlier, Poland, without any remorse, in an alliance with the same Nazi Germany, “chopped off” the Cieszyn region from Czechoslovakia.

In any case, the Poles did not offer serious resistance, and mostly surrendered. On September 19, Soviet troops occupied Vilna (Vilnius), which a month later was transferred to Lithuania, which the current authorities of this country prefer not to remember. In Western Belarus, on September 17, the Red Army entered Baranovichi, on September 22 - in Grodno, Bialystok and Brest, on September 24 - in Suwalki. On the territory of Western Ukraine, Rivne and Ternopil were occupied on September 17, September 18 - Dubno and Lutsk, September 19 - Stanislav and Galich, September 20 - Vladimir-Volynsky, September 21 - Kovel, September 22 - Lviv and Stryi, September 24 - Drohobych, September 26 - Kholm, September 27 - Yavorov, September 29 - Przemysl.

The military operation to disarm the Polish armed forces actually ended by October 1, 1939. According to agreements with the German side, a demarcation line was established that did not go beyond the so-called Curzon Line - the eastern border of Poland, established by the Entente countries at the end of 1919.

Relocation of a border pillar in the liberated territory on the border of the USSR with Poland/TASS Photo Chronicle

Western reaction

It is noteworthy that Warsaw's Western allies - Great Britain and France, which declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, two days after the start of the German invasion of Poland, took the actions of the USSR for granted. Yes, there was also a loud parliamentary speech by British Prime Minister Chamberlain about “a knife stuck in the back of Poland” and anti-Soviet articles in the Western press. But it all ended very quickly.

Already on September 27, 1939, former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, in a letter to the Polish diplomatic envoy in London, stated that the actions of the USSR cannot be compared with the actions of Nazi Germany, since “Russian troops occupied territory that was not Polish and which was occupied by force by the Poles after First World War". He also recognized that the residents of Polish Ukraine have the right to reunite with the residents of Soviet Ukraine. Winston Churchill, who took the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain a few months later, took a similar position. On October 1, 1939, he stated that Russia needed to reach this line in order to protect itself from possible aggression from Nazi Germany.

Help for “class brothers”

Western Belarus. An old peasant woman greets the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army in the town of Molodechnoye. TASS photo chronicle

The actions of the Soviet Union in September 1939 were completely justified both from a military-political point of view and from the point of view of historical expediency. In fact, there was a reunification of Western Russian lands that had previously been torn away from Russia. True, in Soviet propaganda the main emphasis was not on this fundamental point, but on class solidarity - “the liberation of the working people of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus from the Polish lords, landowners and bourgeoisie.” This was expressed in a popular song based on poems by Evgeny Dolmatovsky and Vladimir Lugovsky:

“We are marching for the great Motherland
Help our class brothers.
Every step taken by our army,
Drives away the ominous night!

At the same time, the directives of the political departments of the Red Army also focused on Polish chauvinism in relation to “our brotherly peoples of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus” and inciting national hatred, in particular, the ban on the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages.

It is worth saying that the overwhelming majority of the population of Western Russian lands welcomed the arrival of the Red Army and greeted Soviet military personnel with flowers and red flags. The bodies of Soviet power created on the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus that were taken under control and the elected People's Assemblies advocated joining the Soviet Union. On November 1-2, 1939, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR satisfied the relevant appeals. Thus, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus became part of the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR, respectively.

Annexation of Western Ukraine, 1939. Western Ukraine. Lviv. A column of workers celebrating November 7th. Photo by M. Ozersky / TASS photo chronicle

Why modern Ukraine has fewer rights to Lviv than Poland

When talking about the annexation of the Western Russian lands of Galicia and Volyn to the Soviet Union, it should be said that it was then, in 1939-1940, that the Soviet leadership in the person of Stalin completed the territorial formation of a state entity called Ukraine, which, with minor changes, has survived to this day. Unfortunately, there was no talk of returning these territories to the all-Russian space. Quite the contrary, the communist government did everything to completely Ukrainize them. In this regard, the policy of decommunization and refusal of legal succession with the Ukrainian SSR pursued by the Kyiv regime in favor of the nationalist UPR represents a fight against the founding fathers of Ukraine and... an act of separatism. Yes, yes, it is an act of separatism and nothing else. For in the current realities, Poland, which considers itself the legal successor of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, has a much greater right to the territories lost in 1939 than modern Nazi Ukraine, which declared war on the Soviet legacy and proclaimed itself the legal successor of the UPR.

To confirm the above, we will cite a specific historical fact. One of the idols of Ukrainian nationalists, Symon Petliura, who in 1918-1920 was the head of the Directorate (government) of the UPR, signed the Warsaw Agreement with the Polish dictator Jozef Pilsudski in April 1920. In accordance with this document, all of Western Ukraine, including Galicia, part of Volyn, as well as Lemkivshchyna, Kholmshchyna and Nadsanye, was recognized as the territory of Poland. Thus, Petlyura, who hoped to return to Kyiv with Polish bayonets, with his own hands transferred to Poland the territory of the former West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR), with which on January 22, 1919 he signed the “Act of Zluki” (unification agreement). In honor of this “Act of Evil,” which creakingly existed for a little over a year, Ukraine has celebrated the “Day of Conciliarity” since the time of Kuchma, and Petliura has been elevated to the rank of a national hero.

However, there is nothing new, what kind of country are the heroes.

The date September 17, 1939 is not a holiday for the Russian world, although it made it possible to unite Ukraine and Belarus within the framework of national republics within the USSR. Ukrainian scientist, political scientist, historian and publicist, editor of the Ruska Pravda portal Sergei Lunev told a REGNUM news agency correspondent about this on September 17, assessing the prospects for establishing a memorable date in the calendar of the post-Soviet republic.

“September 17 is a tragic date for all Russians. As much as we would not like to admit, in 1939 it was not Rus' that was reunited, but Soviet Ukraine, which included several million Galicians who were alien in mentality and religion. It was not possible to tame and re-educate them, the “Sovietization” of the region failed, but Western Ukrainian personnel actively participated in the Ukrainization of “Radyansk Ukraine.” Already at independence, thanks to the Galicians, Ukraine turned into a reserve of Russophobia and chauvinism,” Lunev said.

in 2005 it was proposed to divide Ukraine in this way, but it did not pass...

“Ukrainians may not admit it, but Ukraine has never been united. It was a fragment of the Empire. Accordingly, the central authorities had to pursue imperial policy. However, the Nazis, who seized power in Kyiv, considering themselves the titular nation, decided to spread their views to the territory of all of Ukraine. The result makes itself felt. Ukraine is falling apart and it is impossible to unite it, since for the sake of unity it is necessary to sacrifice the obsession of the Galicians to remake Ukrainians in their own image and likeness. This applies not only to Russians, but also to residents of historical Ukraine, who for Galicians are incorrect Ukrainians,” says the Ukrainian expert.

Galicia's claims to such separation of territory

“Thus, the disintegration of Ukraine along the borders before 1939 is a matter of time, as is the return of Galicia to Poland, which considers these lands its own. It is not surprising that the Polish leadership fully supports all decisions of Kyiv, because they lead to the collapse of the country,” Lunev concluded.

As REGNUM reported, in Soviet historiography the date September 17, 1939 was interpreted as a positive event, the result of which was the reunification of the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples within the framework of the BSSR and the Ukrainian SSR. In the post-Soviet period, the official historiography of Ukraine underwent a radical revision, and official publications for more than 20 years have been disseminating openly anti-scientific fabrications about the “great Ukrainians”, who are credited with the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, the invention of the wheel and all the greatest achievements of mankind. In universities of the post-Soviet republic, students are instilled with the idea of ​​the eternal enmity of Ukrainians and Russians, and the image of followers of the local variety of chauvinism as “nationally conscious” and “national heroes” is presented. The greeting of the followers of Stepan Bandera “Glory to Ukraine - glory to the heroes” became the official slogan of the participants in the coup in February 2014 (“Euromaidan”) and the punitive battalions destroying the cities and population of Novorossiya.

Option discussed in Minsk

language differences

Any use of materials is permitted only if there is a hyperlink to REGNUM IA