Sergey Ivanov, chief of staff of the presidential administration, will represent Russia at the 70th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
As EAD reported earlier, the authorities of Poland did not send an official invitation to Vladimir Putin to the commemoration events scheduled for January 27. After a wave of media outrage in Russia, the Foreign Ministry of Poland has announced that the decision not to send official invitations to country leaders was adopted in order not to discontent the public in the country, for it is not desirable ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections. The government of Poland said they would like to pay more attention to former Auschwitz prisoners rather than politics.
Prime Minister of Poland Ewa Kopacz, while on a visit to Kyev, personally invited Ukraine’s President Petro Porochenko to the visit the ceemony. Kopacz said Poland stands ready to receive the soldiers who fought at the 1st Ukrainian Front and participated in the liberation of Auschwitz.