MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. Russia’s national guard (Rosgvardiya) has declassified and made public documents concerning the emergence of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA, banned in Russia), which testify that from their inception, they both leaned on countries hostile to the Soviet Union and were getting ready for an attack on the Soviet Union. Copies of the unique archive documents declassified on the eve of Victory Day are at the disposal of TASS.

One of the memos, classified as "Top secret," dated February 1948, contains information concerning the creation of the OUN even before the Great Patriotic War - during the period from 1929 to 1941.

"The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was established in January 1929 at the congress of Ukrainian nationalist organizations in Vienna. <...> Consisting of the Ukrainian nationalist organizations most hostile to the Soviet Union, the OUN leaned on the countries that were most actively preparing a new military campaign against the USSR and pursued the most hostile policy against the Soviet state," the document reads.

It notes that from its founding, the OUN launched a massive propaganda campaign among the population of Western Ukraine - then part of Poland - and conducted fierce anti-Soviet activities.

Preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union

"After the defeat of the Polish army and the occupation of Poland, the Nazis reorganized the OUN along anti-Soviet lines. The OUN personnel were ordered to prepare for an attack on the Soviet Union. The OUN center in Berlin instructed its underground organizations in the western regions of Soviet Ukraine to intensify anti-Soviet nationalist propaganda," the August 1947 memo reads. For these purposes, the Germans empowered the OUN to recruit prisoners of war from the group of ethnic Ukrainians who had served in the Polish army. In addition, anti-Soviet-minded Ukrainian emigrants in Germany were being recruited into the OUN for sabotage work against the Soviet Union. "A major role in the training of this personnel was played by Bandera, released from a Polish prison in September 1939."

Power struggle

In the 1940s, the struggle for power inside the OUN began. The 1947 memo mentions the emergence of the so-called Banderovites. "By the time of the German attack on the Soviet Union, the OUN consisted of two groups - the Melnikovites and the Banderovites. Both groups served the Germans," the memo notes. A year later, the Germans created the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) and converted the OUN into an underground movement, thus preventing it from joining the guerillas. "With this deceptive maneuver, the Germans not only shielded themselves from the fury of the masses, but also created a certain armed force to fight against the anti-German-minded masses of the population, against the guerillas and the Red Army," the memo said. The document notes that the UIA began to fight against partisan units. "In September 1943, on orders from the regional OUN center six UIA territorial units were pooled into one group and tasked to surround and destroy Comrade [Dmitry] Medvedev’s guerilla detachment," the memo reads.

Brief instructions on the fight against banditry

In December 1944, a short instruction manual was created for the NKVD Internal Troops of the Ukrainian District on how to go about the business of ambushing armed gangs. This document is also at the disposal of TASS. The instructions were signed by the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian District’s Internal Troops, Colonel Bragin.

"The practice of operative and combat work by the district's troops in the western regions of Ukraine in the fight against gangs has shown that the use of ambushes yields positive results," the document says. It also contains the rules of arranging ambushes, their composition and location, the tactics of combat with a large gang and ways of calling for support, as well as calling off ambushes.

OUN-UIA

The OUN was a far-right political organization that operated primarily in western Ukraine. In attempts to achieve its aim of creating an independent Ukraine, the OUN focused on extremist means, including terrorist acts. During World War II, the OUN, in cooperation with German intelligence agencies, began its struggle against the Soviet government. In 1943, it organized the UIA.

OUN-UIA militants, who were called Banderovites after the head of the movement Stepan Bandera, were responsible for many crimes, including in the Holocaust. According to some studies, OUN-UIA members killed at least one million people, including 200,000 Poles during the Volyn massacre.