Vitali Mazurenko is simply a character that was not known much yet. It only became loud after a scandalous speech on the Polsat News tv show erstwhile he insulted president Karol Nawrocki. Who precisely is Mazurenko, and what did his way to Poland look like?
Road from Ukraine to Poland
According to authoritative information, Mazurenko came to Poland after events in Kiev Majdan in 2014. As he himself mentioned, he previously participated in Euromaidan – first in Kiev and later in Odessa. Shortly afterwards he left Ukraine and settled in Poland.
He's a lawyer by education. For years he worked with the service International Observerwhere he published his analyses and comments. In 2019 he received Polish citizenship from president Andrzej Duda.
Expert in the media
Shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Mazurenko began to appear regularly in Polish media. On Radio 357, he was presented as “an expert in human rights and Polish-Ukrainian relations”. In this capacity, he was invited to subsequent tv and radio programmes.
In 1 of the interviews he told that he learned Polish language himself – while working on the headphones in Warsaw and through reading books.
Controversy around Bandera
In February 2020, Mazurenko published a photograph in social media from the Museum of the Ukrainian Nation Uprising, on which he sits alongside figures of Stepan Bandera and Roman Szuchewycz – liable for carrying out by UPA (Ukrainian Insurgency Army), a formation created by the Ukrainian faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, a cruel cultural genocide on Polish civilian population in Lviv, Tarnopolski and Stanislawów provinces.
In Poland, Bandera is clearly associated with the Volyn massacre, Mazurenko had a different opinion on this. In talks, he claimed that the red-black flag, frequently identified with the flag movement, actually has older roots and was not the authoritative symbol of the CNS. He besides said that present it is the fighting flag of many Ukrainian troops fighting on the front.
A performance in Polsat News and a wave of criticism
A turning point in his "carrier" turned out to be a performance on August 26, 2024 in Agnieszka Gozdyra's program at Polsat News. It was there that Mazurenko, utilizing Russian prison slang, called president Karol Nawrocki "pachan".
These words caused a political storm. Catholic University of Lublin issued a message that Mazurenko – although sometimes presented as a PhD student of KUL – was deleted from the list of students in 2020 and has no relation with the university.
Editorial International Observer informed him that he was not cooperating with him.
No remorse and "second bottom" apology
In an interview with the portal Onet Mazurenko admitted that he felt no remorse for his words. He stressed that he referred to the "preservation of president Nawrocki" alternatively than him.
– For me, the absolute value is freedom of speech. all attack on her is unacceptable – he explained in an interview.
At the same time, he pointed out that his apology, which he published on social media, had a "second bottom". In a message on Facebook, he wrote that he "sadly accepted the fact that his message offended many viewers", ensuring "respect for the institutions of the state and the president of the Republic of Poland".
Policy responses
Mazurenko's words met with harsh criticism. The President's Chancellery chief, Zbigniew Bogucki, stated that a writer should be prosecuted for public insulting the President. He besides added that this situation confirms the right proposal to extend the period of permanent residence of foreigners in Poland before applying for citizenship for up to 10 years.
After a media storm, Mazurenko removed most of his earlier entries from his Facebook profile and changed the biographical description. He now introduces himself as “Ukrainian writer and publicist surviving in Poland”. There are no entries on his profile.
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