PREVIEW: Medvedev visit to Poland: A "milestone" in normalising ties

By Dominika Maslikowski Dec 4, 2010, 2:06 GMT

Warsaw - Poland has high expectations ahead of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's arrival for a visit it says is a 'milestone' in normalising relations, and a sign that Moscow is treating Warsaw as a serious partner.

Medvedev is to spend most of Monday in meetings with Polish officials, including President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The talks are expected to focus on issues that continue to haunt relations and on plans to help overcome these.

Relations have improved somewhat since Tusk took office, and Medvedev's visit is a 'natural symbol of these changes,' said analyst Agnieszka Lada, of the Warsaw-based Institute of Public Affairs.

On the top of the agenda would be the issue of the mass murder of Polish nationals by Soviet troops in the Katyn forest during World War II. Until 1990, the Soviet Union refused to acknowledge the massacre, regarded by Poles as a national tragedy.

Komorowski has said the first visit by a Russian president in eight years would be a step towards 'unity in truth'.

Medvedev's visit will come days after Russia for the first time officially condemned the massacre. A declaration by the Duma, or parliament placed the blame squarely on the regime of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Soviet propaganda had for more than four decades maintained that Nazi Germany was responsible for the killing of some 22,000 Polish soldiers and civilians.

Medvedev would reportedly to bring additional archival material from a Russian probe into the massacre. Polish prosecutors have said they needed more information to conclude their own probe.

'We are taking important steps forward when it comes to declassifying materials and working together to clear up the Katyn issue,' said Russia's ambassador to Poland Alexander Alexeyev.

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Medvedev's visit was a 'milestone' in normalizing Polish-Russian relations. 'Russian officials have a serious approach to this visit, and to Poland.'

Commentators say relations will likely improve as Komorowski is seen as friendlier towards Moscow than his predecessor Lech Kaczynski. Kaczynski had been critical of Russian 'imperialism' during Moscow's 2008 conflict with Georgia and supported Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

Komorowski said he and Medvedev will discuss how to jointly commemorate the victims of the April plane crash in Smolensk, Russia that claimed the life of Kaczynski and 95 others who had been en route to a ceremony commemorating the Katyn massacre.

Poland and Russia were brought together in shock and grief in the aftermath of the crash. Polish investigators have largely praised their Russian counterparts for their cooperation on the probe, but have also been critical of how slowly Russia was turning over materials.

Medvedev is expected to announce Russia's contribution to the establishment of a joint public dialogue initiative, which would see the opening of centres in Russia and Poland in January.

Poland expects the centres to help build understanding between Russians and Poles on issues such as history, national heritage and culture, and undertake research projects.

'Although Polish society is much more open to Russians now and the Russians shown a lot of empathy towards Poles after the Smolensk catastrophe, there are still too few initiatives at the civic society level,' Lada notes.

'The visit of the Russian president can create a good atmosphere for staring such projects. It is really high time for them.'

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