Polish president's office explains why Mussolini, Catherine the Great and Schröder keep Order of the White Eagle

Officials from the office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki have attempted to explain why Poland's highest state decoration, the Order of the White Eagle – which was stripped from Volodymyr Zelenskyy – is still held by former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Russian empress Catherine II (the "Great") and former German chancellor and "friend of the Kremlin" Gerhard Schröder.

Source: a comment by Agnieszka Jędrzak, a minister in the Chancellery of the President of Poland, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "The first two have long been deceased, and Poland does not revoke the Order posthumously. The former German chancellor, meanwhile, has never insulted the Polish nation as overtly as the Ukrainian president has, though his activities in support of Putin's Russia must be condemned as harmful to Poland and Europe."

Details: As the minister from the Polish president's office explained, during Gerhard Schröder's time in office, Germany did not erect monuments to Hitler or Himmler, nor was any unit of the Bundeswehr named after "SS heroes".

Jędrzak also pointed out that Zelenskyy was not concerned about these people holding the Order of the White Eagle when he received the decoration himself.

"Moreover, to the insult of naming a Ukrainian army unit after 'UPA heroes', he adds another by returning the distinction via courier," the official added.

"The heart of the matter is, after all, the deliberate insult by the Ukrainian leader towards a nation that, over the past four years, has proven to be Ukraine's best friend. One does not honour the murderers of the ancestors of those who helped you when it was a matter of life or death. When someone extends a helping hand to you and you eagerly grasp it, you do not then insult the helper," Agnieszka Jędrzak stressed.

She added that Karol Nawrocki "revoked the Order, not the hand".

"We support Ukraine, but we will not allow ourselves to be insulted," she concluded.

Background:

• On the evening of 19 June, Nawrocki took the decision to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle in connection with the naming of a Ukrainian military unit after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He said Poland would not allow EU accession for those who do not understand the need to renounce the "cult of totalitarianism and violence".
• Following the decision, a number of current and former Ukrainian officials announced that they would return their Polish honours. Questions were also raised about whether Zelenskyy would attend this year's Ukraine Recovery Conference, scheduled to take place in Gdańsk, Poland.
• On 20 June, Zelenskyy said that he had sent the order back to Karol Nawrocki by post.

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