REALIZATION OF POLISH EASTERN POLICY REGARDING UKRAINE ON THE EXAMPLE OF HUMANITARIAN INTERSTATE COOPERATION

Abstract. The Polish Eastern policy regarding Ukraine in the period from 90s of the XX until early XXI century, with an emphasis on its realization in the humanitarian sphere is analyzed in the article. It is known that Ukraine occupied an important place in the foreign policy of the Republic of Poland, occupying a leading position in Polish Eastern policy in the period from 1989 until 2010. It is at this time that the establishment and development of bilateral relations of the young independent states, which have taken an evolutionary step by establishing and developing good neighborly relations to the level of strategic partnership. The humanitarian sphere became one of the important components of Polish Eastern policy in the researched period. The main goal of Polish Eastern policy became the the responding to changes that take place of eastern abroad of the Republic of Poland and establishing relations with the former republics of the Soviet Union, primarily with those which shared a border with Poland. Problems of historical memory, harmonization of complex historical contradictions and the policy of interethnic reconciliation, cultural cooperation and interaction in the sphere of science and education – this is not a complete list of elements of humanitarian cooperation between the Republic of Poland and Ukraine, which are analyzed in the provided article. Keywords: Eastern policy, humanitarian sphere, cooperation, interethnic relations, Ukraine, the Republic of Poland.