In an article published on Monday, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported that Russia is holding cultural artifacts that were looted from Poland by the Soviet Union during World War II.
According to the daily, it is estimated that the Soviet Red Army took around a million cultural objects from the country at the time.
"In reality, we do not know what is being kept in Russian museums and archives as access to these places is difficult," the Polish daily quoted a source as saying.
Rzeczpospolita also reported that restitution claims by Poland, prepared by diplomats and academics, included documents and artifacts from the former Nazi German Auschwitz death camp.
In a letter published in Rzeczpospolita on Sunday, Poland's Culture Minister Piotr Gliński said that his country has over the years submitted more than 20 requests to Moscow to return looted items.
The letter by Gliński came amid a heated dispute between Warsaw and Moscow over recent claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Poland was partly responsible for the outbreak of World War II.
Putin’s words have triggered anger in Warsaw. Polish President Andrzej Duda has accused the Russian leader of “post-Stalinist revisionism.”
Duda has also said he will not take part in ceremonies planned for later this week in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German Auschwitz death camp because the organisers had not allowed him to speak at the event, unlike his counterparts from Russia, Israel, Germany and France.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Putin “has lied about Poland on numerous occasions, and he has always done it deliberately.”
(jh/gs)
Source: Rzeczpospolita