The forthcoming visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Poland will become a turning point in the relations between the two countries, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Wednesday.
Medvedev will arrive in Poland on December 6-7 at the invitation of his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski. The Polish president hopes to discuss the 1940 Katyn massacre with Medvedev.
Deputies from the lower house of Russia's parliament on November 26 approved a resolution recognizing the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish officers as a crime committed by Stalin's regime.
"The fact that Medvedev is coming after the State Duma's crucial resolution shows that the Russian leadership is serious about this visit and about relations with Poland," Sikorski said at a security summit in Kazakhstan.
According to official data, over 20,000 Polish officers were killed in 1940 by the NKVD - the Soviet secret police. The executions took place in various parts of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The largest massacre occurred in the Katyn forest near the Russian city of Smolensk.
Komorowski hailed the recognition of the massacre. "I believe this is a positive signal that came from Moscow before the upcoming visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Warsaw. We must accept this document with great satisfaction keeping in mind that this is an official document by the [Russian] parliament," he said.
ASTANA, December 1 (RIA Novosti)
